Faith + Work + Life

This week has been such a perfect example of why flexibility matters. The flexibility of a professorial schedule is helpful and almost makes those Ph.D. student loans bearable. When I started seriously considering my next move late last year, the return to flexibility was one of my major factors. It’s not that I had zero flexibility before – I worked for a kind human who knew I was also a human! But having to take PTO to take a bike ride before the humidity is unthinkably bad instead of just taking the bike ride and shifting my day (when I’m already hosting a live session and working until 8 p.m. tonight…)? I’ll take option 2.

The thing about being human is that sometimes we can plan for a need for a flexible day and sometimes life is just going to force the issue. Tuesday night, I finally returned to yoga! It felt like a lovely end to rough few weeks. And then our puppy got into ground bees and got stung repeatedly (as did one of his humans…it was me thankfully instead of the allergic one!). We’re both fine (the canine recovery was much speedier than mine). And then Wednesday I took the day off for a lot of reasons, including needing both humans to be at the vet with our senior dog to figure out what’s ailing her right now. And today we aimed to get that bike ride in while it was breezy(-ish). Tomorrow I will make yoga again. Next week, who knows?! Because humanity is not tidy or orderly or easy!

Of course, some careers are more flexible. Appointment-based jobs are not going to be that flexible – none of us would be thrilled to get to a long-scheduled doctor’s appointment and found out to find out our doctor was off on the trail instead! If Publix is open, they need cashiers! But realistically the vast majority of office-based jobs can and should come with more flexibility in terms of timing and scheduling. It’s how you’re going to effectively recruit and retain top talent. And no matter how much companies keep pushing a “return to normal” and use of their very expensive buildings, the workers bees aren’t that interested in 5 days a week at the hive.

I’ve seen this in my own research and experience:

• Huxford Davis, B. (2023). What about our personhood? COVID-19 and the elusive search for work-life balance. In L. W. Watson (Ed.), Exploring personhood in contemporary times: From leadership to philosophy. Information Age Publishing. Available here
• Huxford Davis, B. (2022). Ethical management in these unprecedented times: COVID-19, gender, remote work, and the search for employee work-life balance. In C. Patton & E. Egel (Eds.), Ethical implications of COVID-19 management: Evaluating the aftershock. Ethics International Press. Available here
• Balancing Work and Life: 9 Lessons in Discernment and Fulfillment
• Daily Habits for Managing Well
• Boundaries + Intentional Disconnection + Other Strategies for Avoiding Burn Out
• Occasional Loafing Might Just be Good for You
• Remotely Interested
• A Slight Change in Course

But I also know this from research being done by others. As Adam Grant called out recently, Nick Bloom’s landmark study shows increased job satisfaction, less quitting, and zero cost in terms of performance or promotion. The less quitting? It was by 33% and especially true for women and those with long commutes (Grant’s summary is here and Bloom’s work is here).

In my 20+ years of observing managers and leaders in workplace settings, the unfortunate thing is that flexibility tends to be a perk reserved for those at the top. As if only those making the most money and holding the most responsibility have sick dogs, aging parents, kiddos with parent-teacher meetings, or a desire for more balance and enjoyment in life. In fact, when we can’t pay people more offering flexibility is a solid strategy for negotiations and adjustments towards longevity in a role.

I remain baffled by the folks at the top of organizations – especially huge for profits – deciding this issue is done or doesn’t exist. (Okay, maybe not that baffled!) We need to do better collectively but it will take individuals pushing back on the collective “wisdom” to see it happen. Is there value to structure and days in the office? Absolutely. But as so many learned during the pandemic, there just might be more value in less structure and less days in the office. And taking care of people well should be a top priority for organizations who claim to care for their people (which seems to be all those big ones on the fancy lists).

Do better.