General Discussions

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

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Irene Tang
Community Marketing Manager
Vena Solutions
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Hybrid has helped me juggle my growing family.  My wife is also in a demanding role and she can get absorbed in her work, but by being at home, its making it a LITTLE more easier for her to leave her laptop alone.

A buddy and  I were discussing this article over the weekend.  Some interesting points in that, hybrid is getting in the way of that 'office culture' and employers may look the other way when it comes to productivity dips around the water cooler - provided there are warm bodies getting water in the same physical space...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/08/return-to-office-why-executives-are-eager-for-workers-to-come-back.html

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

Hybrid has helped me juggle my growing family.  My wife is also in a demanding role and she can get absorbed in her work, but by being at home, its making it a LITTLE more easier for her to leave her laptop alone.

A buddy and  I were discussing this article over the weekend.  Some interesting points in that, hybrid is getting in the way of that 'office culture' and employers may look the other way when it comes to productivity dips around the water cooler - provided there are warm bodies getting water in the same physical space...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/08/return-to-office-why-executives-are-eager-for-workers-to-come-back.html

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

Thanks so much for sharing this article, Andrew.

It is really amazing to me that so many organizations are ordering employees back to the office, despite the evidence mounting since the start of the pandemic that hybrid/remote/flexible working is better for employees and for business. IMHO, the companies that get this right are those that view the office as a destination - a place for meaningful collaboration - as opposed to a dedicated workplace. 

I have been working as a remote/hybrid employee for the better part of 15 years now. I was with a company previously who was an early adopter of WFH or WFA (work-from-anywhere) and it coincided with when I was starting my family as well. It was THE differentiator for me and led to a 12+ year career with the organization. And, in no way did the fact that we were all remote (dispersed across all of NA) negatively impact our culture. In fact, I would argue it enhanced it!

The time we did spend together in the same physical location was meaningful and productive, and we cherished the 1-2 opportunities per year when we could travel to see each other. The energy was enough to sustain us for the next 6-12 months when we met up again.

Hybrid has helped me juggle my growing family.  My wife is also in a demanding role and she can get absorbed in her work, but by being at home, its making it a LITTLE more easier for her to leave her laptop alone.

A buddy and  I were discussing this article over the weekend.  Some interesting points in that, hybrid is getting in the way of that 'office culture' and employers may look the other way when it comes to productivity dips around the water cooler - provided there are warm bodies getting water in the same physical space...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/08/return-to-office-why-executives-are-eager-for-workers-to-come-back.html

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

When I first shifted to a WFH model I found I experienced the same challenges as you, as I am sure many did. It was hard to set boundaries and achieve a healthy work-life balance when everything was happening in the same space. It was easy to open up my computer and quickly check my emails and messages after dinner which lead to more stress and burnout. If a request came through that I could not action right away I spend the rest of the night thinking about it and didn't give myself a mental break from work.

To help set boundaries I divided up my small apartment into " work" and "personal" spaces. I wouldn't bring my work computer into my personal space (no matter how tempting working from the couch was) and in the evening I fully shut down and closed my computer and left the "office".  I even set up a separate desk so I could work on personal things without having to go and sit at my work desk. 

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

I have been 100% WFH since March 2020, and I love that my workplace is flexible enough to give me that option, even when many people are back at the office full-time.  Although my job isn't hybrid, my office is now.  All meetings are set up with a remote option, so team members can collaborate from where ever we are, whether that's at the office, or at home, or across the country.  Having technology in place to share screens makes a world of difference.  I think hybrid offices allow companies to embrace the best of both worlds and support employees who work better in different environments - some coworkers couldn't wait to go back to the office, and some like myself found a strong preference to be remote.  Now we all get to work in ways that make us the most efficient.  I keep in touch with co-workers by having a regular (but optional) weekly "watercooler" meeting online, specifically to hang out and chat about the week, like we might do at the coffee machine at the physical office.  It doesn't quite make up for seeing people in person when walking across campus, but it helps a lot.

For the balance, it helps me to very clearly define work-time versus home-time.  I don't always leave the "office" at 5pm, but when I do wrap things up for the day, I shut down my computer, walk to the front door, and announce that I am home.  This tells my family that it is now okay to do all the asking-about-dinner and that sort of thing.  Once I'm "home", no more work until the next morning.  I often change from office-clothes into home-clothes right away as a physical symbol that this is resting time, and sometimes go to the grocery store right away like I might have done on the way home from the office before.  The verbal announcements and clothes-changes help me to set boundaries for myself of what mode I am in, which makes it easier for the two modes to stay separate.  

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

What a great topic!  I'll take a different angle here and speak to the talent acquisition / retention side of it.  Love to get @Laura Victoria take on it as well.

But its an interesting topic because there is no right or wrong answer and you need to juggle between what matters to the organization yet remain sensitive to the individual if you are to attract and retain the best.   So do you want to build the "culture" again and have people come back to the office or risk losing them to another opportunity which allows them to stay remote?  And if you want them to come back, is it full time or hybrid? And if hybrid, how hard do you enforce it?  Your office might have also collected dust over the years (if you still kept it).  Do you need to invest in it or is it good enough?  So lots to think about before making the call.

Delbridge's big focus for this year is staffing and building the team of individuals that also fit our culture.  And part of the challenge is what type of working model we want to adopt; ie WFO vs WFH vs Hybrid.  We've seen big tech letting go of so many people but that also presents an opportunity for a consulting shop like us.  There's a massive talent pool out there and finding the right balance that caters to the personal interests of the individual, and is to our organizational benefit, needs a bit of time to get right, making tweaks along the way.

Another factor to consider is offshore offices.  Should you apply the same North American formula to your global offices? We have offices in Costa Rica and Romania for example, but we are keeping a consistent message across the board.

So what have we learned over the last couple of years?

1- We haven't figured out the perfect balance but we're getting there :)
2- Forcing people to go back full time to the office distances you from a large demographic of talented individuals seeking flexibility from their employer
3- Hybrid works (for us at least).  We have designated a specific day that everyone should REALLY try and make it to the office.  And most do, across all of our offices!
4- ELT should be flexible in case people can't make it sometimes.
5- You need to invest in the office space.  An uninviting office will deter people from coming
6- Work shouldn't be so dull.  Make it fun so they look forward to it regardless of home or office.

Would love to hear your thoughts and whether you are facing similar challenges in your organization.

Thanks

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all! 

Hi @Sal Rana

Wow, that is some awesome insight!  One thing I want to do for a growing consultancy is, how can we put our best foot forward for brand new talent?  What is the expectation for the fresh-grad generation?  I was once excited to get up and make the grind to the 28th floor of 77 King St W. almost two decades ag, but does that still get others excited?  Maybe its totally commute dependent and i think we can all agree there is something about the same commute that has changed a little over the last 4 yrs....

What a great topic!  I'll take a different angle here and speak to the talent acquisition / retention side of it.  Love to get @Laura Victoria take on it as well.

But its an interesting topic because there is no right or wrong answer and you need to juggle between what matters to the organization yet remain sensitive to the individual if you are to attract and retain the best.   So do you want to build the "culture" again and have people come back to the office or risk losing them to another opportunity which allows them to stay remote?  And if you want them to come back, is it full time or hybrid? And if hybrid, how hard do you enforce it?  Your office might have also collected dust over the years (if you still kept it).  Do you need to invest in it or is it good enough?  So lots to think about before making the call.

Delbridge's big focus for this year is staffing and building the team of individuals that also fit our culture.  And part of the challenge is what type of working model we want to adopt; ie WFO vs WFH vs Hybrid.  We've seen big tech letting go of so many people but that also presents an opportunity for a consulting shop like us.  There's a massive talent pool out there and finding the right balance that caters to the personal interests of the individual, and is to our organizational benefit, needs a bit of time to get right, making tweaks along the way.

Another factor to consider is offshore offices.  Should you apply the same North American formula to your global offices? We have offices in Costa Rica and Romania for example, but we are keeping a consistent message across the board.

So what have we learned over the last couple of years?

1- We haven't figured out the perfect balance but we're getting there :)
2- Forcing people to go back full time to the office distances you from a large demographic of talented individuals seeking flexibility from their employer
3- Hybrid works (for us at least).  We have designated a specific day that everyone should REALLY try and make it to the office.  And most do, across all of our offices!
4- ELT should be flexible in case people can't make it sometimes.
5- You need to invest in the office space.  An uninviting office will deter people from coming
6- Work shouldn't be so dull.  Make it fun so they look forward to it regardless of home or office.

Would love to hear your thoughts and whether you are facing similar challenges in your organization.

Thanks

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure about you, but looking back at my archives on my social media has reminded me that it has been 3 years since the workplace has shifted significantly. The way we work and communicate has changed and I'm grateful that I can work in a place that can be fully remote, but also allows me to go into an office when collaboration is needed.

But that hasn't always been easy for me! When working from home became the new "normal", I had completely lost sight of work-life balance since it was so easy to just keep working after 5PM, or open my laptop before going to bed. I found that setting strict boundaries for myself was so important to ensuring my mental health was being taken care of. 

Take a sneak peek on how @Muneerah Kanji, VP of Finance at Vena shares her tips on a successful hybrid work-life balance:

If you want to watch the full video, be sure to check it out here! 🎥

✨ And finally for those who want to join a community for women+ in finance, be sure to join the Women+ in Finance community today! 👀

There's an awesome post from the previous episode that summarizes so well on how to be a great finance leader. 

Be sure to share your tips on how you achieve a work-life balance, especially if you're in a hybrid or remote environment! 

Thanks all!