Mental well-being in a time of pandemic

There’s a mental health time bomb ticking away but we’re not noticing it because we’re focusing on our physical well being.

Being stuck inside, lack of human contact, losing our routines, worrying, changing our dietary habits, these are all factors that can compromise our mental and emotional well-being, and while, of course, our priority must be to protect ourselves and others from the Covid-19 virus, our mental health is being compromised all the time we are trying to adapt to these unusual circumstances.

I’ve already noticed a slight shift from compassion to “blame and shame” with regard to people’s behaviours around the virus. People being judgemental about how others conduct themselves, complaining that others are not being sufficiently considerate on pavements and in public spaces. That has to do, in part, with heightened anxiety and the difficulties that arise from changes to our normal life, as well as increasing fear as people we know fall ill. It’s our own fears, being expressed as anger. 

People are reacting to the situation in very different ways. Some are positive – seeing opportunities, some are philosophical or stoic, accepting the situation for what it is, some are anxious, and others are experiencing depression.  It’s important to be aware that people are reacting in different ways: we’re not expected to see things as others do, and we can’t expect others to see things the way we do.  Our specific circumstances and concerns mean we may have a different attitude to the next person, and neither is more or less valid – just different.

At first Coronavirus was an abstract thing that happened far away.  Then it came to our country, our town or village, our community and now it’s reached our close friends and family. I don’t suppose there’s anyone in the UK now who does not know of someone who is, or has been, seriously affected by Covid-19.  It’s scary, and we need to notice our fear while also trying to to maintain calm, showing care towards ourselves and others.

With that in mind, here are some ideas to help with self-care.

1 Focus on what you can influence, not what you can’t.

It was the writer Stephen Covey who introduced me to this idea in his excellent 7 Habits of highly effective people.  I’m not one for coaching gurus, but Stephen Covey is the exception as far as I’m concerned.  Covey invites us to recognise that there are many things that worry and concern us, and we tend to pay more attention to the things that are out of our control than the things that we can influence.  We are all fearful about the spread of Covid-19 but there’s very little we can do to stop its spread, except to be as vigilant as we can, and behave as responsibly as we can. Other than that it’s out of our control, so there’s little point worrying too much about it.  When we see others behaving irresponsibly we can be annoyed, we may even say something, but we’re unlikely to change their behaviour, so why get stressed about it?

We fear the unknown, but doubt is OK.  We don’t know what’s happening.  Remember that it’s OK not to know.  We are looking for explanations – its the human condition.  We want answers and need to be in control.  the inability to be in possession of clear facts mean people grasp at half-truths, untruths, or anything that allows them to feel as if they know, understand, and are in control.  This then leads to people judging others if they don’t behave according to the “truth” that they have adopted, and add this to the anxiety that many feel, and you have a recipe for shaming and blaming others.

More worrying, it leads to conspiracy theories and damaging telephone masts because people are persuaded by ideas that Covid-19 is spread by 5G. It’s an answer. It doesn’t matter that it’s nonsense.  When people want answers they’ll grasp at anything that someone presents to them as an answer.

Better to put your energy into making the changes in your life that you are able to make. Stay informed, but don’t stay tuned into the news all day long – the media tells you about the things you can’t influence, and therefore the stuff that reminds you about what you don’t have control over. Overdosing on this stuff will bring you down. Focus on things that you want to do, and make efforts to effect those changes rather than focusing on things that you can’t do anything about.

2 See the opportunities in the situation.

With the additional time available during the week that many people now have, you have a chance to do things, either personally or professionally, that you’ve been meaning to do for a while. I wonder how many books are being written right now? Books that the authors have wanted to write for years perhaps? How many of my musician clients are going to compose new pieces and perhaps record demos at home?

For those people with children, can you see this as an opportunity to spend real quality time with them? Clearly if you have young children at home you’re not going to have much time to get into new personal projects, on the other hand, this time together might be something that your children will value and appreciate. How many of us feel guilty that we are at work until late and don’t see enough of our kids? Well here’s the opportunity to be with them as much as you always felt you needed to.

There are also things you can do with or without the children, that will have other benefits.  Later on I’ll talk about eating well.  The current situation presents us with opportunities to develop our culinary skills, or if we’re lucky enough to have one, working in the garden, or perhaps decluttering. I’m certainly looking at my possessions in a new way. The world is a very different place now and is going to be different from now on.  I’m not looking at accumulating things. I’m looking at shedding myself of things.   

The situation we find ourself in means that for many of us, we have time to do things we didn’t have time to do before.  Time is a gift.  Don’t think about how this is restricting you, think about the possibilities.

3 Try to maintain your normal routines.

Get up when you usually get up. Get dressed rather than staying in your PJs all day, eat at your normal times. Life hasn’t changed that much. Don’t let it feel as if it has. Whatever you used to do that you can’t now do in the same way, try to find a different way of doing it rather than deciding that you can’t do that thing any more.

Work and social life are the obvious examples. We’re all trying to find new ways of working.  We’re also discovering new ways to communicate with friends and family. That’s not changing your routines, that’s changing the way you follow your routines.

4 Exercise

Leaving the house to exercise is one clearly permitted. so every day you can go our for a run, walk or bike ride, perhaps.

Exercise has such an incredible impact on our mental well-being that everyone should find time, no matter what their situation, to do it, preferably daily, but otherwise whenever you can. It doesn’t need to be hard exercise, just going for a brisk walk that gets the heart rate slightly raised is good for the mind as well as the body.

If you’re confined to you home, or even one room, stretching, yoga or pilates will be ideal. There are many teacher now offering online classes. Exercise could be the most important thing for keeping you in balance.

If you never thought you could get into running, you have a great opportunity to take on the couch to 5K challenge. You have the time, and I promise you that if you see it through, you’ll be running for 30 minutes three times a week, within 9 weeks. There are plenty of downloadable programmes but the one I used was from the BBC website.

I’m a keen cyclist. When I took it up as an adult I had no idea of the well-being benefits cycling offered beyond general fitness, but there’s no doubt about it. Everyone’s talking about mindfulness these days.  I didn’t realise I have been practicing mindfulness on a bike until I watched a short film on youtube called “The Art of Mindful cycling with Dr Ben Irvine”.  It’s well worth looking at.  Cycling is high value exercise with low impact on your body. Also, it’s a lot easier to keep a safe distance between you and others when on a bike. There’s no narrow paths to share as walkers and runner must.

Another form of exercise that is both enjoyable and easy to do at home is dancing, so put on a bouncy piece of music and have a bop!  Get that adrenalin flowing through your body. You could even arrange a disco with friends over Zoom or Skype.

Or alternatively, an online gym session with a friend while you are both on zoom together.

5 Eat well

Panic buying seems to have eased off, but still we can’t always buy the food we normally would. So another opportunity to try something new presents itself. It’s really important to eat a balanced diet for physical and mental well-being.  Take the opportunity to cook new dishes, using foods you might not have tried before. The internet is an amazing source of recipes.  It’s a chance to eat well, to learn something new and to do something with the children, perhaps.

6 Socialise as much as you can.

Contact is crucial. Isolation is incredibly detrimental to well-being so pick up the phone and talk to your friends and family now that you can’t visit, especially those living alone.

Create WhatsApp groups with different communities and participate in those online conversations.

Video conferencing allows you to see and speak to people and some of these services allow group chats. 

Check in on your neighbours if you are able to go out, talking to them from a safe distance. I’m optimistic that we can come out of this experience much closer to those around us, and much more caring towards our friends, family and neighbours.

It’s important to feel connected to others. People want to feel connected. Say hello to strangers as you pass them in the street – acknowledge the humanity of others.

7 Spiritual practice

This isn’t about getting religious. Those that have faith had it before Covid-19 entered our lives, those that don’t aren’t gong to suddenly get faith now because of it. I’m talking about meditation, mindfulness and becoming more tuned into what’s really important by spending time in contemplation.  It’s amazing how quiet, private thought puts our fears and worries into perspective.

Some meditate, some look at nature, even if that means looking out of the window at a tree. The universe is a big place, and we are very, very very small things in the universe.  That’s awesome. Tuning into your sense of awe brings inner peace. Being in the moment means we stop, for a while, worrying about the future.

8 Sleep well

Good sleep is important for physical and mental health. Just because you haven’t got anything specific to get up for, go to bed at a sensible time and wake up after a proper night’s sleep. This might not be easy but it is habit forming.  At first you might find it difficult to get to sleep, and you might wake up in the night several times, but don’t stop forming that habit. Go to bed when you feel tired rather than trying to go to bed early and tossing and turning. Then, when you’ve found that natural bed time, you will soon be waking up at the same time every day. Sleeping-in isn’t good, and lying on your back for too long isn’t great for your lungs, which is something we need to be aware now just now.

All of these practices are important for physical and mental well-being.  They directly influence our energy levels, and they contribute to our overall happiness. Most of us have never experienced a situation as challenging as now. It has never been more important to pay attention to our self-care.  If you take on some of these ideas now, you may even come out of the experience feeling healthier than you have for many years.

Finally, remember, this will all be over relatively soon, and there’s going to be a lot of crying, and a lot of love to give and receive, so try to stay mentally strong and healthy so you can be there for those who will need you. 

Stay safe, and stay well.

The fluid generation

 

Fluid generation.

I was recently with my 22 year old son talking about “the future”.  His future, to be specific.  Not one of those “now son, it’s time you got serious and started to plan everything for the next fifty years” conversations, but more about how he imagines things might develop for him having recently embarked on the first stage of what I would describe as his first career.

His response was interesting, and not altogether surprising to me. I’ve had similar responses to this enquiry from several people of his generation over the last few years. In essence, he said he has no clear idea of how things will pan out for him beyond the next 4 years or so, and, (and this is the important bit to my mind), he’s not worried about it.  He’s focused on what he’s doing now and when the next stage of his career comes across the horizon he’ll make his choice about what to pursue given the opportunities that are presented.

Things are going to change so quickly in the meantime, both in the world of work and beyond, that there’s little point in trying to plan beyond holding some fairly loose ideas.

This is the fluid generation.

The term has been coined to refer to the rejection of gender as binary: male or female.  While most of us find the idea of gender fluidity at best confusing and at worst dangerously threatening, most of my son’s friends have absolutely no difficulty with it, and I admire them for it. Indeed, they find it curious that we struggle with such a notion.

The idea of fluidity for millennials, I suggest, is not confined to gender. I think young people are fluid, open, non-committal about just about everything of importance in their lives.

Granted, when I was in my twenties I couldn’t tell you what my long-term plan was so that’s nothing new.  What is different is that when I was in my twenties I had a sense that I was on some kind of linear path in life  – that each step would lead inevitably to the next. That model of thought was predominant for my, and probably previous, generations.  I also saw work in binary terms: employed or unemployed; waged or self-employed; working hours and non-working hours; weekday and weekend. Again, I’m not saying that these distinctions have completely disappeared, but I don’t think they are as defining for millennials as they were for me. A week that comprises some hours of work, some hours learning, some in the gym, some volunteering, plus the inevitable every moment in between online, so that ones social life is conducted more or less continuously throughout the day, regardless of the primary activity, is standard.

Moreover, in my day it was rare for anyone in their twenties or thirties to work on a freelance basis.  Nowadays many young people work that way, and as a freelancer working hours are very much more fluid than 9 to 5. My daughter is not yet 24 yet has worked on several projects as a freelancer, and that’s not counting internships. Self-employment is the norm for her and she’s doing this alongside her studies.

Why is it that those people just now becoming economically active see the world in much more fluid terms?

We can’t discount the pace of change in the world. Things have moved on significantly in the handful of years since the millennials left school. Technology is their touchstone, and they know better than anyone how quickly ideas, apps, games, etc., become old.  They are completely used to obsolescence in every aspect of their lives.

Perhaps political uncertainly also plays a part?  Unpredictability in world affairs, environmental collapse,  and in the breakdown of the left v right system may all be feeding a sense amongst young people that it is foolish to predict what their world will look like in the medium-term, let alone the long-term.

In other words, there’s no point in my children and their friends planning for the future because that future is so unpredictable.  Actually the future was always unpredictable, but my generation and those before me thought they could predict it. Instead millennials living much more in the moment, seeking satisfaction from what is available now, taking advantage of current opportunities, and wherever those opportunities lead, that will be their path. They are not confining their decisions to work opportunities, but to life opportunities, because work opportunities are no more valuable, have no more potential to lead to a “good” life, than any other opportunity.

Again, my generation also responded to opportunities.  People I work with in their forties and older talk me through their careers and many jobs taken are responses to opportunities rather than the result of planning.  Why did you go to work in Australia?  I was in Singapore and met an Australian, we got married and I went to live there for the next 20 years, might be a typical case, but that’s still a different situation to what I’m noticing today where people don’t even have a clear path from which to deviate.

I think that ten to fifteen years down the line we are going to see a significant cohort of people who have drifted, but that drifting will not be a bad thing, it will simply describe the way people move through life, settling down to something for a while and then upping and moving on to something else.

Actually they don’t care how hard you play

One of the (many) problems I have with the modern business world is all the cliches, platitudes and, frankly, meaningless banality that we are bombarded with, usually dreamt up by coaches like me.

One such that I was pondering recently is the label that some individuals and companies give themselves to indicate that they are serious.  They take their professional responsibilities seriously, and when they are not at work they let their hair down in an equally committed way.  They  boast that they are people who “work hard and play hard”. When companies describe themselves in this way they’re really telling us that they expect their employees to work hard, and that they are looking to recruit high energy, outgoing people. I don’t think they are particularly bothered about how hard their employees play.

Where in the work hard, play hard philosophy is the message that rest and relaxation are also important for a healthy, balanced life? Lunch is for wimps, and so, it seems, is sleep.

Source: US National Archive and Records Administration

Recent research tells us that greater happiness can be achieved if people slept more.  The problem we face at the moment is not that we don’t “play” hard enough, it’s that we don’t sleep hard enough. Happiness is the point here because what people are quickly realising is that happiness is really what they seek above anything.

The research, commissioned by Sainsbury’s, came out a while ago and it received fairly widespread coverage so I won’t go over the details.  For those that are interested in reading more on it you can download their Living Well Index report here.

Another recent study appears to suggest that the risk of Alzheimer’s can be reduced if people slept more owing to a discovery that a lack of sleep increases the presence of a brain protein that is linked to the illness. More on that here.

To mark World Mental Health Day on October 11th the headteacher of a west London secondary school gave out alarm clocks to pupils, with a note to parents inviting them to take away connected devices at night in an effort to encourage the youngsters to go to sleep.  The excuse is often made by youngsters that they need their phone for the alarm function in the morning.  No doubt teenagers are resourceful enough to get around this idea, but the message is important, if symbolic.

Another problem with the work hard culture is that it discriminates in favour of those who have fewer commitments outside work, like family, and we all know what that boils down to; women, in particular, are held back in this way.

Instead of crowing about being a place where people work hard and play hard, I’d like to see more employers encouraging staff to work hard but not long hours, to ensure they eat a healthy diet, exercise, spend time with friends and family and critically, to get a good night’s sleep. They can start by ensuring that their senior managers set the right example by leaving at a reasonable time, encouraging their team members to do the same, and by making it clear that staying late is not impressive.

That way they will end up with a far more productive workforce than they would if they encouraged people to burn themselves out.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s 2am and I need to watch a bit of telly.

 

 

Are Portfolio Careers Now the Safest Form of Employment?

I recently facilitated a panel discussion about work in the twenty-first century, with particular focus on portfolio careers.  Something one of panelists said stopped me in my tracks, ever so momentarily.  It stopped me because while I spend a fair amount of my time thinking about the world of work and how it is changing, and while a lot of that thinking is about portfolio careers, freelancing and the diverse ways by which people make a living and relate to the “employer” (however that relationship is defined), the point that was made challenged the received wisdom that I have simply accepted throughout my years as a career coach.

A portfolio career is about spreading the risk, not having all your eggs in one basket

The panellist, a person whose portfolio of activities comprises eight separate income streams, said that in his view a portfolio career is more secure than traditional employment.

And there am I trying to tell people that while it may not be secure, for many people the portfolio career is the best work pattern for reasons of lifestyle choice or pragmatic need.  I never really thought of portfolio careers as a smart move for the risk averse. When I work with people for whom a portfolio career seems sensible, it’s often because permanent (full or part time) employment prospect for people with their capabilities are rare. I don’t think I’ve ever suggested to someone that a portfolio career is the way to go for someone seeking financial security.

The reason is fairly obvious. When faced with starting out on your own or finding a job with a regular, known, salary from day one, the salary appears to be a safer proposition.

In the longer term, however, employment is precarious, and living in a world where redundancy can come with short notice, leaving a person without any income, is a reality of the twenty-first century.

So when my panellist pointed out that he no longer has any worry about finding himself without any income, because out of eight activities, even if some of them declined or went through a bad period, he’d still be earning from the others and would have time to fix or replace the failing ones, it made total sense.  Being self-employed is safer than employment.

Why does this notion turn our received wisdom on its head?  I suspect it’s about how society has viewed self-employment pretty much since the beginning of industrialisation. Working for a well-established, successful company was seen as secure employment.  Why has it been harder to get a mortgage or insurance as a self-employed person than as an employee? Because the actuaries have worked on the basis that a self-generated income is riskier than a pay cheque every month from a corporate entity.

That’s all changed now.  Employment is not a guarantee of security.  It’s just a guarantee of predictability for the duration of the employment. You know how much you’re going to earn, but you don’t know how long you’re going to earn it for.  On the other hand, self-employment means that you know you will always be working (as long as you choose to) you just don’t know exactly how much you will be earning.

Building a portfolio that manages the overall income stream is where the art of the portfolio careerist comes in.  My panellist could quite possibly develop one or more of his current activities into a successful business, taking up all of his time if he wanted it to, but he has decided that to put all his eggs in one basket in this way would diminish the security that his portfolio provides.

In other words, this portfolio career is specifically designed to offer a level of job security that he couldn’t achieve if he were employed by a large company.

 

A new thing every year

At the risk of sounding like one of those (un)charismatic life coach guru types, this week’s piece is a call to action, ra-ra-ra, go for it, just do it, bouncy encouragement thing.

A few years ago I made a decision to take on a new challenge of some type every year.  In all honesty it wasn’t planned that way.  It was retrospective in that I did a challenge then decided that I would find another one each year.

That first challenge was a physical one.  I rode a bike up a very long and steep mountain in France.  I’ve written about this challenge and the profound impact it had on me elsewhere and since then the challenges have included learning to weld, trying (again) to learn a musical instrument and this year I have taken up ballroom dancing (second lesson this evening). Perhaps one day I will summon up the courage to try to learn a foreign language.

Why do I promote this?  There’s no intrinsic benefit in taking on something new on an annual basis, but there is a benefit in continual learning.  One of the major health concerns for us as we live longer is dementia.  The Alzheimer’s Association have identified six pillars for prevention of that particular form of dementia:

1. Regular exercise
2. Healthy diet
3. Mental stimulation
4. Quality sleep
5. Stress management
6. An active social life

I’m particular persuaded that new activities forcing you to use parts of the brain you don’t generally use is especially good for you.

These, unsurprisingly, match the factors I have long recommended for people looking to achieve a healthy work-life balance.  A challenge a year could take care of a number of these six factors depending on what you decide to take up as your challenge.

Beyond that, pushing yourself beyond your known limits is one of the most life affirming things you can do, as I found on my cycle challenge.

Long before many of us stop working, we stop learning.  We’re just going through the motions for much of the time.  I’m not saying we’re sleepwalking through our jobs, and clearly there are some roles that require us to constantly think and learn, but for many the parts of the brain that are associated with leaning are minimally stimulated and I’m sure that the reason dementia is becoming such a concern is because we are living longer, and therefore are living for more and more years without sufficient mental stimulation.

So here’s me, standing on a big stage at the O2 with a microphone headset bullying you into committing to learn something new in 2016.  Watch out Tony Robbins. Next years’ challenge for me is to be you.

Not.

 

Time to down tools and relax

I’m so pleased that we are entering the holiday season.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. In the case of Jack Nicholson’s character in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, it made him much worse than dull.

During my working life I’ve seen the number of hours worked by white-collar employees gradually increase.  I’m not talking about the standard working week.  I’m talking about the additional hours referred to in employment contracts as “and any other times you are required” or something similar. These are the hours that you work late into the night, or early into the next morning, whenever a deadline approaches, because the alternative would be that next time there’s redundancies are in the offing your name might be on the list.

Don’t misunderstand me.  This is a fact of modern life.  I think it’s wrong but I can’t offer an alternative for a service based economy where people are the machines and being competitive requires squeezing as much out of those machines as possible. My issue is that employers on the whole, don’t appear to recognise how this relentless life is bad for business.

Workplace stress, anxiety and depression is at unprecedented levels accounting for 10 million sick days per year, that’s 43% of all days lost for reasons of ill-health. It has taken over from back pain as the top reason for absenteeism, reflecting our transition from a physical to a mental economy.

So while employers may not be moved to address the issue (and it should be stressed that the problem is far, far greater in the public than the private sector) at least this season gives employees the opportunity to turn off the technology and leave work alone until January.  That’s right.  Just put it down.  It can wait whereas your health can’t.  You need to be attending to your well-being all the time.

I’m not so naive to imagine that bosses and clients won’t try to make contact over the holiday period, and you may not want to ignore those calls, so at least try to contain dealing with those approaches to certain ring-fenced times, and relax as much as you can the rest of the time. Put messages on your voicemail and set up an “out of office” response on your email. Otherwise, coming back in January without having felt you’ve been able to re-charge the batteries will set the new year off on a bad footing.

Of course, you may be one of those people who finds being stuck with the family more stressful than work, in which case I suggest you volunteer to go in between Christmas and New New Year for your period of relaxation, after all, as we all know, nothing happens in the office then.

How a balanced life makes you better at work

I was asked to give a short talk last week.  “What rest means to me”, was the title.

A number of years ago I developed a training session on life balance, not “work-life” balance – work is part of life, not something separate – and the thrust of the session was to look at the components of a healthy, balanced life.  It’s my strong view that the people who are most effective at work, both in terms of sustainable performance and in building strong relationships with colleagues and clients, are those who have acquired balance in their life.

The components of a balanced life are:

• Healthy eating
• Sufficient rest and sleep
• Exercise
• Spending time with those that love and support us
• Exercising the brain in way other than through our work
• Entertainment and pastimes.
• Community or voluntary activity
• Finding moments of peace, contemplation or spiritual nourishment.

Helping you work rest and play? It’s a long time since this was the considered the key to a balanced life.

Making a life that includes as many of these as possible are, for me, more important that simply “rest” as a way of recharging.  I do not believe that someone who works incredibly hard, but has very little else in their life except for relaxation and sleep is likely to be able to perform well in their career over the long term.  External activity grows us and makes us more rounded people, and we bring all of that into our work.

Relaxation is important, but not less or more important than exercise. Volunteering for a charity enables us to do things that express care and valuing of others, while going to the cinema or a football match is a way of valuing and giving ourselves attention.  Being with friends and family is essential for a healthy life, but no more so that spending time alone.

Some of these components are to do with the body, some the mind, and some the soul.  I don’t want to get all spiritual on you here, but don’t underestimate the importance of ideas like inner peace and humility;  they are very grounding.

I’m not advocating that people incorporate all of the above into their lives.  Not everyone wants to get involved with a charity, not everyone is able to pursue a sport or exercise. I simply invite you to think about what you do to keep yourself physically healthy, engaged with those around you outside work, and mentally agile.

A full, varied life is a life that stimulates.  Recharging the batteries does not simply come from being passive.  A change is, as they say, as good as a rest.

Why Volunteer?

It’s five thirty am and I’m writing this from a thronging Luton Airport departure lounge. It strikes me that if I picked any house at random in the south-east of England, I’d almost certainly find it empty, the occupants being here at the airport with me. If only I’d chosen to be a burglar rather than a coach, I’d be minting it.

I’m travelling for a few days in my capacity as a trustee for a small charity. I must stress that this is not a glamorous task, in fact I’d really rather not be doing the travelling, but volunteering for the charity more generally is important and fulfilling, and as with most activities, there is good and bad. You just need to make sure that the good outweighs the bad.

I’m looking for a volunteer.  Hands up!

Volunteering is one of my recommendations for a healthy, balanced life and it’s good for work on a number of levels.

No job perfectly matches our skills, interests and values. Taking on the right voluntary role allows you to derive satisfaction where work may not offer it. As a sole trader, my charity role allows me to work with others and to take on leadership opportunities.

For someone in employment or looking for a job, having an alternative source of achievements can certainly enhance career prospects. A recent example was that of an accountant, qualified overseas who was struggling to find work in the UK owing to a lack of local knowledge and experience. My suggestion was to find a charity that would allow her work on a part time basis. She gets experience, they benefit form her expertise and skills.

If we’re lucky our job allows us to learn about something we are genuinely interest in, but that’s not the case for everyone, and even if it is, most people have wider interests than their job caters for. Working for a charity allows me to develop my interest in this other area.

In a similar vein, there are activities we enjoy doing, but opportunities for those activities are not always available in the job we have. Charity work may be the answer, enabling us to do some of the things we like outside of employment.

Ideally our values would be shared by our employer and in the work we do, but that’s not always the case. While a charity usually stands for clear enduring values making it easy to support if you share those values, a company’s values are often less clear, and they change depending on economic circumstances and the beliefs and ideals of its leaders. It’s common for a person to join a company whose values in terms of purpose and behaviour they share, yet after a period of time those values diverge and the person finds their beliefs at odds with those of their employer. Finding a charity that allows us to live more authentically according to what we feel is important can solve that problem.

I know many people reading this will be thinking, “that’s all very well but if you have a busy job there’s no time for volunteering”. They’re right, not everyone can or wants to give their spare time away, but if you are one of those people, I encourage you to think about the wider benefits you might derive from voluntary work, not just for your personal well-being, but also for your longer term career goals.

What we can learn from The Intern about work

Hollywood is not great when it comes to portraying the real world of business.  It tends to focus on extreme characters in extreme situations, as you’d expect.  Just occasionally, though, a movie tells a story that most of us with an interest in the world of work can enjoy, and even gain something from.

The Intern is one such film for me.

First of all, I love the idea of senior interns.  This idea taps into my concerns about how experience in the workplace is largely undervalued.  I’ve never heard of this actually happening except, I suppose, in the voluntary sector, but Robert De Niro’s character, Ben, demonstrates exactly what is lost when older employees are written off.  He brings calm and offers wisdom because he’s seen it all before and he’s not overwhelmed by change. To think that when you reach a certain again you are no longer capable of adapting has always seemed ludicrous to me. Some find change easier than others, some embrace it while others resist it, and it doesn’t matter how old you are.

Ben (Robert De Niro) and Jules (Anne Hathaway) learning from each other in The Intern.

If you are aware of any senior intern schemes I’d love to hear about it.  Please leave a comment.

Another point made by the film is that it’s not specific technical knowledge that is needed, even in a high-tech business.  Obviously, this depends on the role, but so many times have I read job descriptions asking for industry experience when clearly it is not required. Often it’s used as a tool to reduce the number of applications, but I would argue that it’s a bad way of doing so, because there’s something lost when organisation exclude those from outside their sector.  Inbreeding is not healthy.

However, the really important message I thought the film made was to do with the way women entrepreneurs, and for that we can assume all senior women executives, often feel they are making a sacrifice to fulfil their business dream.  What man would worry over his right to be committed to his work the way Jules (Anne Hathaway) does? The movie asks why women are even in a position where they question their choice to be the hard working mum with the stay-at-home husband.

Finally, another point the film makes that is relevant to everyone at work:  eat well, sleep well, exercise and make time for friends and family. That’s how to ensure you perform at your best at work.

I very much enjoyed The Intern and if none of this has persuaded you to see it, then I’ll just add that there’s a very nice neck massage scene too.

Homeworking: The Backlash

I read yesterday that Yahoo is ending the practice of working from home, claiming that organisations are more creative and dynamic when their employees interact closely with each other.  You’d think this would fly in the face of modern trends, and that it was an especially surprising position for a tech company to take given that improved technology is facilitating effective remote working.

Does your office chair look like this?

Without dismissing the flexibility that home-working affords to parents and others who need greater control over their time, and noting that I have chosen, as a self-employed person, to opt-out of the office environment, I can’t help but agree with Yahoo’s position.

I’m not suggesting that working from home should be ended.  There are times when it’s right to remove yourself from the distractions of the office, especially if you are in an open-plan environment.  Report writing is not easy under such conditions, for example.  Similarly, it’s not unreasonable for a person to want to opt, every now and again, to work from home, flexing their working hours, in order to take care of domestic needs.

Yahoo is a special case.  They have allowed home-working to reach a point where there is no cultural cohesion and as a result, productivity has declined.  While CEO Marissa Mayer is calling for an outright ban on home-working the reality is that informal arrangements, where appropriate, will surely continue and that’s the way it should be.  Working from home should be the exception rather than the rule because organisations are nothing if they are not the collection of people that come together every day, working together, to achieve common goals. They may be rife with internal politics, petty jealousies and rivalry, but they also give an individual his or her best opportunity in life to contribute to something much greater than they could achieve alone, and to feel part of something valuable.  But only if they are there, with their colleagues, making that difference as a team member.

Should we be surprised at this volte-face?  Well I suppose if you ever thought that the motivation to allow remote working was to attract or retain talent then perhaps you might.  This seems to be at the heart of the criticism of Mayer’s move.  The truth is that initiatives like hot-desking and home-working were economic decisions.  Smaller buildings, less furniture, lower costs.  I think what Mayer knows is that what you save on things you lose many times over in productivity  – not skiving, but simply through lower commitment and engagement in the business.

…or this?

Talented staff will hardly be put off joining an organisation because they have to go to work – talented people like going to work, it’s where they are at their best.

Mayer’s demand for an outright end to working from home is extreme, partly because she wants to send a strong message to a company that needs a big kick.  I expect other companies will follow suit to some degree, at least questioning their reasons for encouraging the practice, and we’ll return to a situation where work is where people work, and home is where they play. Just because the technology is available doesn’t mean it’s best to use it.

From a personal viewpoint, while I’m happy working for myself, I know that the one thing I miss about being an employee is the community of colleagues.  There is no substitute for being with people.

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