How can we best allow people of vastly differing work styles to have the maximum flexibly possible to maintain their work/life balance, while at the same time account for culture and relationship building and getting things done?

Do flexible work environments, like ROWE, work? What are some other well-vetted alternatives? What are some crazy, not-vetted-at-all ideas? What works? What are some of the dangers?

I've written up some ideas, but I'd love to get yours.

Note: if you request to be added, your comment will not post, but please do tell me what you have to add.

One way I’m hoping to achieve this in my own startup is by not idolizing and glorifying crazy work ethics. That may be necessary when trying to succeed as epically as Apple—Tim Cook famously starts work at 4am—but in almost all circumstances that kind of dedication comes at the cost of personal / non-work life. (Jobs’ biography is proof of it)

I think flexibility in the work environment is a must-have, no matter what. To be inclusive (my goal) is to be tolerant of people’s highly differing needs, and that takes flexibility. But just like Lean, Agile, etc. for startups, it’s more about your discipline, goals and policies than the exact “system” in which you execute your plans.

I figured I should clarify - my article was about work/life balance, but really specifically geared towards work style, time & place. Of course "work/life balance" is a bigger issue.

Having said that, feel free to comment on either or both. :)

Right, so I think you nailed it with the emphasis on that article’s 44% _feeling_ overworked. ROWE is, I think, just one side of the coin that we all should adopt as an integral element to our work style, the other side being a careful evaluation and introspection of where and how we value our work. Freedom in and of itself is not a guarantee for happiness—too much freedom is actually debilitating, something Barry Schwartz articulated beautifully in his TED talk[1].

If we don’t actively measure and evaluate the things that make us truly happy and satisfied, our focus on Results is the only thing we give structure in our lives.

In other words, I’d mainly want a Happiness Oriented Work Environment.

[1] ted.com

To answer the first section on allowing people with different work styles flexibility while maintaining a culture is having transparency on both sides of expectations, preferences and needs.

One of the most empowering things I've found about ROWE is that the companies that embrace it trust their employees, it doesn't feel like like high school where you have to be in your room at a certain time. Just as long as you get your projects in and maintain good communication across your team/organization.

What would a happiness oriented work environment look like? My guess goes back to expectations, trust and communication where bullying, siloing and exclusionary tactics are actively discouraged (i.e. Faruk's point above).

I think Eventbrite is a good example of a company that is both Results and Happiness-oriented. I don’t know if there is much info on this online but a presentation from one of the founders at GrowConf recently revealed an amazingly positive work culture that was also very productive.

Do you remember what some of the highlights were of the happiness side of it?

Also, I think companies that offer sabbaticals, paid time on, volunteer time, and other similar avenues for personal exploration help with the happiness quotient.

A lot revolved around various non-work activities that the employees could participate in and which were actively facilitated by Eventbrite itself (ergo, no monetary investment by employees to make it happen, just effort & passion).

Love it guys. My post sort of took a specific aspect, one with a very practical/actionable bent to it, but I like that we're thinking beyond that.

I feel like if you are trusted, empowered and adding value--and you love what you do--some of these things take care of themselves. Having said that, there is more to life than work, even work you love, and I feel far to many people fall on one extreme or another. Thus the need to figure out ways to bend time and space to best serve both.

I'll separate my response into two elements that we think about a lot at Donna.

Work environment:
- we have two meeting free days to support "flow"
- we discourage having visitors past 2pm, or at least don't introduce them
- we do have daily standups but they're quite late (11am).
- this supports one guy who starts work at 6am at a café and another who works until 3 or 4am sometimes (home or office)
- we have only two meetings everyone attends: monday planning meeting and friday company meeting where we share broader topics and socialize
- we have a lot of different work areas in the office that range from private spaces to open standing desks to lounge areas with their own sonos channels—all of these get used by different people

In terms of the broader work/life balance, we have benefits that specifically focus on family and home. We feel that we are not only hiring a person, but also their friends and family in a way. So we have things like BFF benefit, which is money to spend on a night with a friend, or hire a babysitter and go on date night.

All of this is to support our belief that work/life balance is a false dichotomy. They are not separate. Esp. in our field, we hope that your work is part of your passion—it's one of the things you like to do. And hobbies, family time, etc. all improve your "work" and vice versa. Balance means prioritizing all things together. Sometimes, a family thing clearly takes precedent, other times, you can plan to be at work a lot.

Another way we address things in a ROWE fashion is our open vacation policy. It's up to managers and teams to not guilt people for taking vacations and to plan around known vacations. It's up to individuals to make sure they take vacations and plan with our schedule and needs in mind, giving plenty of notice.

More on this specific topic:
branch.com

Thanks Kevin. Lots of good ideas in there! And I've seen your office, looks like a great place to get good work done.

I also love the idea that you're not only hiring the person, but *their people* as well, and the related BFF benefit. There is a lot of truth to that.

I personally think there is something to work/life balance. What you say sounds good, and I do agree that they're not separate, but I think we need to be very careful. "Passionate about work" can easily turn into working all the time, which can turn into burnout, even if you are in love with what you do.

> "Passionate about work" can easily turn into working all the time, which can turn into burnout

True, but you also mention in your blog post that someone can work long hours and not feel overworked and vice versa. It's all about prioritization and yes, balance. But it's not balancing between two worlds, it's balancing between family time, social time, work time, self-improvement, hobbies, home errands, and more.

"Work/Life" as most people define it, sets it up as two opposing things. I've found more often than not, the things I do in my off time (e.g., reading, drawing, even talking to friends) feeds work and things I learn at work (e.g., dealing with conflict) feeds life. They belong together. More like a merry-go-round than a see-saw.

I see that, and it makes sense. However, I also find it very important to draw a clear line between work and life at times.

Maybe we're talking about two different things (oh the irony) or maybe it's just semantics, or maybe I just think a bit differently than you. Regardless, I find my overall quality of life benefits greatly from periods when push things (work, life, social, etc.) to the side to focus.

Things in our lives ARE opposed at times and I prefer to acknowledge and plan for it. It's easier, for me anyway, to do that when I think of these things as somewhat separate.

I do agree that "work" and "life" are far to broad though. It's more like social time competes with work time and "me" time competes with family time or whatever.

I completely agree with Kevin here that “Work/life” are not two opposing things. Even just from personal examination: I can’t count the number of times that I find myself thinking or being inspired about work somehow while doing something completely unrelated, like grocery shopping or watching a TV show. And sometimes in the middle of work I lose inspiration or focus, and it’s much better for me to take a break and do something else for half an hour than to try and “force” it.

Supporting that kind of flexibility definitely comes at a price for the people in my life besides my colleagues, and Kevin’s ideas on having the company support that personal life directly are a great way to acknowledge that—and relieve stresses that come with it.

Yeah, I think we're saying the same thing, Keith. A person has many needs including personal time, people interaction, and professional achievements. The are all related to each other but require self-awareness to know which of these things you need at any given moment and planning to make sure you give yourself time for it. That's definitely the balance piece.

My point was more around the "work/life" broadness and not saying we don't need to give time to each of the needs. And that the needs do overlap because some activities can supply multiple needs.

Two things have completely changed my overall happiness:

1. Waking up one hour earlier than usual, on M W F, to work with a personal trainer at the gym. I end up feeling more awake during the work day, better about myself, and sleep a lot better.

2. Leaving the office one hour earlier than usual to have a beer or two with my (non-tech) roommates on our deck. It gets my mind off of Branch right before I go to bed and keeps me in the loop with the real world.

These two small changes (I only lose one hour every day) have drastically improved how good I feel.

Josh - Totally agree on the exercise. I'm pretty active to begin with but lately I've been trying to work exercise in as an intentional routine that will take precedence over getting into the office early or cranking on something first thing in the morning.

It's showing benefits both for my personal life and my work. I'm sharper, I retain things better, I generally feel better which helps me motivate, etc.

I also like the "cool down" after work, but I have to admit, that's sometimes hard for me. :) Something I should work on. With beer. On a deck. Haha.

Next time you're in NYC you should swing by!

Josh - I'm there next week to soak in some Brooklyn Beta. :)

Which brings me to something Kevin touched on. What you do for a living can certainly do a ton to enrich the other parts of your life, and not only in the "feeling good about a hard day's work" or "feeling financially secure" way. I've met so many people through my work; great coworkers and countless amazing colleagues, and I meet more all the time. These relationships, driven by, for the most part "what I do" are not only essential in keeping me grounded and inspired at work, but happy at home as well.

Conferences, networking, hanging w/ peers are all ways to help that work/life balance and it's awesome when companies encourage it.

Regarding exercising or having time before you start your work day: kevnull.com

We also set our Friday company meeting at 4pm deliberately to build in social time (and not take away from Friday night plans). We borrowed this idea from Google's TGIF, Twitter's Tea Time, etc. People struggle with this because they feel it's taking time from productive work but we do it as a statement that this IS part of productive work.

My perspective on wellness is that it should be a part of the company culture. Healthy food and beverages, the availability of wellness rooms (places to stretch, relax, yoga), and mixed use spaces (standing desk, etc.) Additionally company events that aren't just drinking or partying.

My personal exercise preference is in the afternoon, when my mental energy has been tapped out after a few hours, then I exercise/move a bit, then feel refreshed and clear.

Hello all,
I 've felt a dramatic improvement in my work/life balance over the recent year by working a four day week. I'm startled by how much more equal my out of work time and home time feels.
A four day week gives me roughly 57% work time and therefore 43% home time.
A five day working week gives you 71.5% work time, and 28.5% home time.
The closer balance of those figures highlights to me how much more 'time' I get away from work.
I feel a lot more focused over the 4 days than I did for 5 and I think staying in the office more and getting an extra 14.5% of work time, won't really allow for greater development. I feel a lot more positive about what I can get done.

For me the key is that my personal goals are matching my business goals. So, for example, my personal goals are to gain more knowledge how human beings are functioning and to improve my health. Therefore the business I'm doing has to be completely around those two things, with minimum sidetracking.

I personally do not divide in my head my private life and my work, for me they are one thing, everything I learn from my family I can apply to my work, everything I learn from work, I can apply to my family at the same time.

I used to work before for somebody else, doing a job which had no value for me, except money, and I felt miserably. My job is my life, my life is my job, simple as that, and this kind of setup makes me very happy.

So part of the key is trying to keep work from becoming a chore. If work can be enjoyable then your work life balance is improved, by work not being too much 'work'.