Jamie Till: New Workplace Instincts

With Jamie Till, Associate Director at Instinctif Partners.

It goes without saying that the workplace has changed unimaginably since the first outbreak of COVID-19. Although a complicated and tragic situation, the pandemic has served as a phenomenon and a key turning point for corporate culture; a seismic shift has been seen in the way we all work, and are expected to work, as the lines are increasingly blurred between our professional and personal lives. Over the course of the last few years, our naturally compartmentalised office vs home personalities have meshed into hybrid identities, mirroring our new found hybrid way of working.

With that in mind, there’s a necessity to keep a focus on our wellness. Inviting our professional lives into our homes has allowed flexibility in how and where we work, and with that, it can be hard to separate time for wellbeing as the idea of working hours adapts alongside our new hybrid routines.

Corporate culture can translate into the instinct to give up personal time to continue work way beyond contractual hours, in thinking that we’re therefore being better at our roles. As we continue our seismic shift to becoming more holistic people in and around the “office”, regardless if said office is the kitchen table, dedicated time to wellness and mood-boosting is ultimately the key component to professional success, on the basis of being happier people. So often in life, we run ourselves dry by offering our time and energy to things that we think are beneficial; our natural instinct to give more to be more.?

In reality, we can only give more to others, and wrapped within that sentiment are our working lives, when we carve out time for ourselves in and around our working day. Previously, the idea of burnout has been almost glorified; a strange ideal of being overworked. This archaic perspective has been dissolved in the midst of COVID-19. We understand that health comes in all forms; the pandemic, while a hugely physical health crisis, also gave way to discussing our mental and emotional capacities. We each felt a similar panic as the world changed around us, setting a new narrative for looking after ourselves - a narrative that is here to stay as we commit ourselves fundamentally to be the happiest versions of ourselves.?

These forms of wellbeing in the working day can come in several forms. Explore new exercise; yoga, stretching - forms of movement that help relax the body, rather than challenge it to do more and be more - as a way of caring for our physical and mental selves simultaneously. Moreover, we have the ability to take the time to continue our education as a form of mental health. For example, discovering podcasts on a range of topics that can provide a time to both unwind, but also expand our own ideas and perspectives, in turn helping us grow as individuals outside of work, but can benefit our working lives as we generate new ideas and extend our capacity for understanding the world around us.?

The world around us changes every day, as hybrid working gives way to simply being our new understanding and expectations of the way we and those around us choose to work. Our instincts in and around the workplace have changed; a positive change that is here to stay.