Tips for a healthy work environment?

It seems the pandemic has forced a lot of people to re-evaluate their relationship with work. There are articles claiming the ‘Great Resignation’ is driving people to more fulfilling jobs. There are now a lot of books, online articles, YouTube videos, consulting guides with different recommendations on maintaining a healthy work environment and being productive at work. It has been an interesting experience reading and watching these recommendations.

Sharing some excerpts below:

Focus

• You need 2-4 hours of uninterrupted time each day. Block that time.
• Turn off anything that could cause interruption during this time (chat alerts, phone notifications etc.)

Meetings

• Do not clutter your calendar with meetings.
• Attend meetings only when you have something meaningful to gather or contribute.
• Do not join meetings because someone thinks you may be needed.
• Do not join meetings without an agenda.
• Do not join a recurring meeting just because it is on there.
• Meetings should end on time or early.

Mails

• Check e-mail sparingly - a few times each day should be sufficient to check, clean-up, respond to critical conversations. Close it once done and turn off notifications.
• Do not send or respond to e-mails during your off-hours. If possible, do not check emails at all during your off-hours.
• E-mail review should not be the first work activity in the morning. It derails your plan for the day.

Planning

• At the start of each day, note the most critical 1-3 activities to be done that day, and spend your focus time getting those done. Other activities are not critical for that day.
• You should have a few tasks that are completed over a longer term. Chip at them slowly over each week instead of rushing through them towards the end. Those are equally critical too.

General

• You are not as important as you think. You are always expendable.
• So, focus on what you can learn from a task/project/engagement and look to move on instead of getting too invested in it.

A lot of this makes sense theoretically, but actual work environments appear to be very different. When I look around, people (especially those in senior roles) are always busy as they hop on from meeting to meeting. There’s a constant barrage of emails and chat conversations right from early hours of the morning (thanks, remote work) with people also constantly replying all to these threads. Come to think of it, there is always a continuous hum of activity all through the day and night (thanks, global teams). The To-Do list and the e-mail Inbox continues to expand. It all does seem chaotic but work is somehow getting done, even if it isn't through the most efficient way.

As I take these recommendations with a grain of salt, I am still curious to learn how people effectively navigate their work environments without getting smothered. Maybe someday we’ll figure it out.