It's okay to take a lunch break, I promise.
I am on the old edge of Millennial. That edge people like Pete Buttigieg hang on to in order to keep their street cred with young people, but still be old enough to run for president.
Sometimes I shy away from being labeled “Millennial,” but I am finding that I am actually proud of some of the traits other generations hold against us. One of those traits is demanding a better work-life balance. Millennials aren’t the only ones looking for a work-life balance. In fact, a study by LinkedIn showed that nearly half of American workers would pass up a better job for more work-life balance.
That sure isn’t the message I hear from the field.
In meeting rooms across the country, I hear a competition playing out:
“I bet you were working for hours before this 8 AM meeting”
“You probably haven’t taken a lunch break in weeks.”
“Another one of those back to back to back meeting days, right.”
After comes tired laughs and a call for more coffee.
Honestly, I am surprised there isn’t a LinkedIn badge for the levels of a workaholic. It could be measured through sleep journals and travel elite status.
Our clients are working on some of the most important problems today. Solving hunger, addressing economic inclusion, and educating the next generation of leaders just to name a few. It is easy to understand why they would work themselves ragged in pursuit of their missions. However, I don’t know about you, but when I work myself that hard I am not doing much good for anyone.
“Work-life balance is not some far-fetched idea, but in a competitive culture it can sometimes feel written off as the desires of a lazy generation.”
A Harvard Business Review article points to multiple studies showing that when you are sleep deprived you are simply not a good leader. You have a lesser ability to inspire the people around you, and are more likely to hurt the relationships between you and your employees. The title of the article is simply Sleep More, Lead Better. A far cry from the Work More, Lead Tired culture of today.
And it isn’t just sleep. We need exercise, we need time with family, we need LUNCH. Work-life balance is not some far-fetched idea, but in a competitive culture it can sometimes feel written off as the desires of a lazy generation. However, like many things we talk about at SWIM, it is actually about a change in mindset.
The mindset of organizations is also known as organizational culture, which has been top of mind for us at SWIM as we have brought on new employees. 3 examples of ways we have tried to embed a good work-life balance are:
No emailing late in the evening or on weekend, or at least explicitly stating that you do not expect a response. People who do like to work on the weekend will even schedule emails to not send until Monday morning.
Encourage lunch breaks. I block 30 minutes for lunch on my calendar every day and rarely give it up. You won’t get the best out of me if I am hungry,
Take some time to get to know each other. We don’t call SWIM a family, but we are a team, and a team that knows each other can support and cheer on each other in work and life. We have recently been taking time on our weekly calls to ask a question less about clients and more about our interests or inspirations. Knowing your team members allows you to recognize and support their life outside of work.
At SWIM, we think sometimes we are overworked because are back to back meetings are inefficient and leave no time to get the real work done. We are working with organizations to have meetings with shared goals that allow for action through shared accountability. If you would like to learn more, schedule a Discovery Call below.
Author: Jordan Vernoy