Remote Work-Life Balance with Alaina Dexheimer, Remote Work Expert

Alaina Dexheimer is one of the leading experts on remote work strategy and organizational development. We had the privilege to talk with her about flexible work, employee well-being, and how companies can put their employees first in 2023. Part of our ongoing People-First Experts interview series!

Meet Alaina Dexheimer

Alaina Dexheimer is the Director of Distributed Work Experience at Sprout Social where she addresses the intersections between remote enablement, change management, and employee experience. She has over a decade of experience in People Experience and Distributed Enablement, previously leading Remote Enablement at Zipline and change management efforts at Gap. As a people-first leader at heart, Alaina is passionate about creating equitable, inclusive workplaces that help people and excellence thrive.

When we first met, I remember being blown away by your job title. Walk us through the responsibilities of a Director of Distributed Work Experience and why every org should have one.

My role is ultimately responsible for ensuring every aspect of an employee’s experience is optimized for flexible work. In practice, this looks like listening, researching, designing, testing and iterating on things that give every team member equal opportunity to be successful working from (almost) anywhere. At it’s core, I’m here to support people in doing hard things and embracing change for the better.?

Whether you’re intentionally founding a remote-first company or transitioning into remote-centered work, a Head of Remote, Hybrid, or Distributed Work can help lead a thoughtful and effective transformation in partnership with executive teams and departments like Operations, IT and HR. From helping articulate a company’s flexible work vision and strategy, to auditing current systems and programs, to implementing remote-first communication practices, to co-creating learning and enablement solutions with key partners, a flexible work leader can focus on making your company’s internal operations are talent differentiator and competitive business advantage.

This work can be overwhelming for one team to take on while trying to maintain prior service level agreements. Having a dedicated function that is responsible for ensuring employees have the resources, skills and processes to work effectively in your organization can help unite teams towards common goals, increase overall productivity, and create agile feedback loops.?

When you’re designing a remote strategy, where does employee well-being factor in? Is it too "squishy" to be included?

Just because something feels intangible, doesn’t mean it’s immeasurable. A big part of my job involves finding reliable ways to consistently measure the human aspects of our work––like how well teams trust each other and whether or not they have a deep sense of community and belonging. These people elements are the prerequisites for performance excellence.

When designing remote work strategies and programs, team effectiveness and employee well-being are non-negotiable design criteria; something we actively anticipate and look to address when piloting or rolling out potential solutions.

If what we build doesn’t serve people, customers, or the business (in that order), it’s not the right solution and requires a better alternative that meets the needs of all stakeholders. That was a long way to say “the elusive stuff matters most, don’t overlook it and use it to design better stuff.”

I love that point about the "human aspect of our work." We bring a lot of ourselves to work every day. On that topic, have you ever experienced burnout?

I have a few times and it’s not something I chat about often outside of when it’s happening, so thank you for making the space to share. I’m an incredibly ambitious person (Hamilton’s Non-Stop plays loudly in the background ??) and every time I’ve experienced burnout it’s because I’ve ignored personal boundaries, overextended myself for 3+ months while doing something I’m incredibly passionate about in a work environment that rewards the results I deliver over everything else.

I had my dream job (and I’ve been privileged to have a few of them by now) that came with immense pressure and a never-ending source of energy. It became easy to forget to take care of myself and give everything to work.

Recovering from every burnout episode took significant time (6+ months) and involved talking things through with professionals and trusted friends, and slowly reinstating boundaries. My current strategy includes a non-negotiable self-care routine that involves specific breaks throughout the day to move and fuel my body and rest my brain.?

Thanks so much for sharing! I can definitely relate. We don't talk enough about how the jobs we love can cause us to reach burnout, too.

How does remote work affect employee well-being? Do you think it hurts the mental health of employees?

It really depends on the individual and work environment. On the whole, remote work has been one of the most positive revolutions for human well-being within the last 100 years––I’m living proof of that!

The ability to customize a safe, comfortable and productive work environment has been life-changing for many. Having agency over your schedule and the ability to save time from commuting and reinvest it for family and friends has improved the quality of life and overall happiness for many––I’m confident it’s why we see more than 75% of applications going towards remote jobs. The flexibility that was reserved for the privileged few is available to the masses and it’s a beautiful thing to witness.?

But there are side affects of remote work that employers and employees should address proactively together. As highly social creatures, all humans need connection (of varying degrees––hey there,???? fellow introverts!) to thrive and for the last 200 or so years, work has been a place where many of us have had those needs met.

Companies need to reimagine what meaningful connection looks like in their organizations today (hint: it’s not more happy hours) and set clear expectations how employees can practice those new norms. I’ve seen relationships flourish faster and stronger in a remote setting versus a colocated one when the right organizational practices and systems are in place. For example, you might pair new hires with a buddy or offer company-wide social meetings and discussion channels and encourage individual teams to do the same.

Remote and large organizations are more susceptible to silos. Companies can get ahead of this by working transparently, designing work to be completed cross-functionally and rewarding and recognizing teams for collaboration.?

Wow, I love these tips! What advice do you have for leaders on fighting against mental health stigma and ensuring more folks have access to support while remote?

#1 - Educate so you can advocate.

Mental health is a complex topic. To make it less uncomfortable to talk about, seek to learn more about the emotional, biological and societal impacts of mental health. Get familiar with the resources your company offers to support mental health.?

#2 - Model making mental health a priority.

We can start to normalize mental health by talking openly about it regularly––not just when something happens. Leaders can model making use of mental health services and taking mental health days and encourage their employees to do the same.

For example, try making therapy appointments visible on your calendar to your team?(only if you’re comfortable, of course). Encourage your team to get consistent sleep, intake water and find ways to move throughout the day to create a strong mental health foundation.?

There's so much we could ask when it comes to this topic. What are some of your favorite remote work or well-being hacks?

• Use data to understand individual and team behaviors. Digital tools typically leave footprints, like who’s viewed your Google Doc and when a comment was posted in it, that can help leaders see when and how work is getting done. While employees should be empowered to create their own work schedules, technology can help you spot someone that might be overextending themselves or need more support.?
• Use no-code automation tools like Zapier to offload recurring tasks and save your brain power for higher value projects. I’ve used these workflows from everything to notify a slack channel automatically when a form was completed to creating a Slack ice breaker bot using prescheduled emails.?
• Make time for regular breaks. It’s easy to skip that midday walk or workout break and get stuck in a chair all day. Your brain works better with movement, so get up and get moving to harness your full cognitive potential.
• Manage your workplace culture and employee experience like a product. Consistently evaluate each component, create agile feedback loops to keep employee sentiment as a North Star and look for ways to remove friction in every day processes.?

And finally, help us leave readers with a gift! What are some books/podcasts/resources you’d recommend to remote leaders?

I’m so grateful that many remote work leaders have a tendency to work out loud––giving the world a chance to learn alongside them. Some of my favorites are:?

• Remote: Office Not Required and Rework by Basecamp/37 Signal’s Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
• The Gitlab Handbook , Team Ops Certification and How to Manage a Remote Team course
• How the Future Works by Brian Elliott, Helen Kupp, and Sheela Subramanian
• Remote Work Revolution by Tsedal Neeley?
• Rituals for Virtual Meetings by Glenn Fajardo and Kursat Ozenc
• Atlassian Team Playbook
• Harvard Business Review

These aren’t quite remote-work topics, but I’ve learned a lot from these resources and believe they apply to any work environment:

• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler, Ron McMillan
• The Thin Book of Trust by Charles Feltman
• The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
• How Minds Change by David McRaney
• Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Shelia Heen
• The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
• Work Rules! By Lazlo Block?
• Dare to Lead by Brene Brown?

Are you or someone at your organization struggling with burnout? You're not alone! Check out our?free mental health resources ?for remote teams.

Alaina Dexheimer is a wonderful expert to follow on LinkedIn. Check out her profile here .

Leaders can get started with?Kona , the employee wellbeing and support platform in Slack, for free! Leave a comment or [email protected] to get started.