Glasgow Anywhere

Work/life balance

Make your day work for you

We all have commitments like teaching sessions, meetings and on-call hours which require us to be working at set times of the day, but outwith of these times, we want you to feel in control of your day. Feel free to take time out of the core business hours to go to the shops, visit the doctor, check in with your family, or anything else you need to get done: if your absence does not overly affect your colleagues or the service your area provides, we trust that you know how to manage your own workload and can catch up later.

Finish your work, not your hours

While some duties carry with them an explicit requirement to work set hours, much of our daily work does not. Similarly, tasks and daily goals rarely take neat or predictable blocks of time that align with the typical working day; some days you might have too much to do in a single day, and other days rather less. We value outcomes over hours: if you and your team have achieved all that you need to do for the day, it is ok to step away.

Put your family first

We are fortunate to be a part of a community of colleagues who truly care about their work. Even the most passionate among us though have lives and priorities beyond our jobs, and now more than ever it is important to take care of our families and loved ones. If you need to alter your duties or hours to make time for your broader responsibilities, speak to your line manager – they will be as flexible as they can be to accommodate your needs.

Make time for time off

We are grateful to all our colleagues for their extraordinary efforts to adapt to new ways of working and teaching over the past year. We appreciate that many are finding it hard to find time to use their annual leave right now and are releasing additional resource to support this where possible. Try to plan leave but also take days off where you can – even a single day can make all the difference to your energy, mood, and wellbeing at this difficult time.

Reach out

It’s easy to ignore problems when working from home, but remote working doesn’t mean you’re alone. If something is bothering you, there are plenty of ways to reach out:

• Speak to your line manager if you have any issues or concerns relating to your role – they will do their best to help.
• If you have any issues or ideas relating to working from home you wish to share, contact the Working from Home Group mailbox – we’d be glad to hear them
• If you need to get something off your chest, you might find it helpful to visit TogetherAll, or make a counselling appointment through PAM Assist
• Yammer offers a light-hearted way to connect with your colleagues across the organisation and offers lots of greats communities to join, including Pets of UofG

Finally: please avoid raising issues through the University’s social media accounts where you can as these are overseen by only a small handful of colleagues – having to read and respond to these messages puts additional pressure on them. Going direct is best!

Working effectively

Save your work in OneDrive

Many colleagues are currently working on non-standard or personal devices. Unlike the standard desktops we use on campus, files stored on these devices are not backed up to networked storage by default. Using OneDrive to store your files not only makes it easier to work anywhere and collaborate with others – it also ensures your work is being continuously backed up the cloud, avoiding the risk of data loss.

Keep in touch with Teams

Microsoft Teams can replicate many aspects of working in an office virtually; you can hold meetings, share files, work on documents together and more. Most importantly, you can message or phone any student or colleague in the University without sharing your personal phone number, protecting your privacy and helping to maintain the boundary between your work and personal life.

Make meetings count

With fewer opportunities to speak informally, many colleagues are finding themselves in more meetings than ever. Do your part to reduce the burden by asking a few simple questions of every meeting in your diary:

• Could this issue be handled more quickly with an email or telephone call instead?
• Will you need all the time scheduled, or can you shrink the slot and be done quicker?
• For longer meetings – could you schedule a comfort break in the middle?

Use video calls sparingly

Many colleagues report finding video calls more tiring than other forms of virtual communication. In addition to the questions above, ask yourself of each meeting:

• Could this videoconference be a teleconference instead?
• Can you actively signal to colleagues which agenda items require a visual element and which they can switch off their cameras for?

You could also try starting Zoom and Teams calls in audio-only mode and see if you can manage without; both programs enable you to switch cameras on mid-call if needed later. We recommend you use Zoom instead of Teams where possible as users can dial into Zoom meetings with an ordinary phone where required.

A bonus tip: dialling in from your phone enables you to take your meetings on the move – instead of sitting at your desk, try going for a walk and stretch your legs.

Setting boundaries

Set the scene

If space allows, try to make a dedicated workspace for yourself at home: it will help to establish boundaries between working time and personal time, and will enable you to set up your equipment and furniture in its most practical and safe configuration.

• Guidance on how to set up your workspace

Reinstate the commute

Some colleagues report finding it helpful to create a psychological separation between working hours and personal hours by going for a short walk at the beginning and end of every working day. The time away gives your mind time to shift gears – and the exercise keeps you fit and healthy as well.

Switch to silent mode

Many colleagues choose to receive emails, Teams chats and other work-related notifications on their personal phones. While convenient at times, this can also be disruptive and intrusive to your rest times outwith the working day. Most communications apps offer the ability to silence notifications on demand or to a schedule:

• Manage your notifications in Outlook Mobile
• Set up Quiet Hours and Quiet Days in Microsoft Teams
• Manage your Notifications in WhatsApp

If you wish to silence an app not listed above, try web searches for the name of the app and “manage notifications”, “do not disturb” or “quiet hours” – you are likely to find some way to take back control of your device.

Be kind to your colleagues

As we begin to benefit from the flexibility of working from home, it’s important for everyone to bear in mind that our colleagues may work to a different pattern than our own. When working outwith normal business hours, take extra care to be respectful and considerate of work/life boundaries:

• Avoid sending messages and emails to others unless you know they are also working late
• Where this isn’t possible, consider delaying your email via Outlook’s scheduling functionality
• If you cannot schedule your email, make clear in your message or your email signature that you do not expect a reply outside of business hours.