A meaningful Remote Culture: windowed working
As my close circle knows, I have been looking for new job opportunities nowadays , and many companies offer remote working. Actually I used to work remotely, and I‘m familiar with how the work can be managed online. Before coming to Germany I have been working in the banking sector in Turkey, and by the pandemic, I had enough experience working remotely. However, I haven‘t thought about a meaningful remote culture before. To realize this concept was like enlightenment that offers so many options for our work-life balance.
So, today I’d like to share one crucial concept (windowed working) that can enhance our living standards and enable us to have better lives while working. Of course, all of them are from my persfective😊 Let‘s start.
In theory, virtual teams give employers the chance to build a dream team without boundaries. For employees, it offers the freedom and flexibility to attain a healthy work-life balance for employees. In other words, I can use my expertise for a company, and at the end of the day, the company and team should provide me a diverse, equal and open-minded environment and help me broaden my horizons. That`s why it can be considered a 2-way street. Yet, in practice, things are not always so rosy. There are always several changes to adapt to when there’s a new corporate culture.
It starts with me
Because everyone has their own daily rhythms. There are certain times of day when I am naturally more focused, creative and productive. I‘ll be at my best while working, if I have a chance to leverage these power hours.
“Many are finding remote working evolving and transforming our daily lives, and we like it. According to one survey in the US, 65% of people want to work remotely full time after the pandemic. And nearly three quarter of companies say at least some of their workers will remain fully remote after Covid-19“.
Yeah. It‘s totally correct but there is something we don‘t think on it. How many of us have a job where we can plan our whole lives ourselves. Here’s a broader picture to consider for the long term.
Sure, We are responsible for our team’s and company‘s success; so I should ensure that I balance my time efficiently and set appropriate boundaries. I should also take care of myself before caring for my team.
Just imagine, there is a work-life balance problem depending on being a parent, having a pet or caring for elderly parents. When it comes to juggling all kinds of responsibilities, from home-schooling kids to caring for sick or vulnerable relatives, one way to meet these challenges is to reorganize your workweek. In this situation, windowed work can help us break up our workday into specific business and personal time slots.
Let me give you an example:
Morning Window: 7–10 am
Midday Window: 12–3 pm
Evening Window: 6–8 pm
This flexibility allows us to focus on work when we are most productive and least distracted. It also enables us to dedicate parts of our day to personal commitments. In addition to that, most importantly, this approach keeps people in the driver‘s seat as they are working.
I’m not the only one who thinks this way. “Survey from global staffing firm “Robert Half“ shows that 73% of employees are improving their productivity by using windowed work schedule“.
In my humble opinion, organizations should focus on quality work over quantity of work, thus employees should be able to pursue better balance during remote work. Furthermore, they must stop rewarding the faster response over the better response, or the longer workday over a more productive workday.
In a nutshell; windowed working style has so many advantages but the main question is, do companies have enough courage to implement this? and do they have open-minded managers? If you find a company working like this, please share with me, too😁
That‘s all for now. Thank you for reading and Tschüss!
