Work Life Balance or Blend?

The riders who carry the Brother UK logo into Britain's biggest races are often compelled to take part-time employment to fund their sport. The phrase "work-life balance" barely describes a level of integration that extends far beyond time management. By embracing the same commitment to a work-life blend as our sponsored athletes, our people are discovering that control over their schedules drives increased productivity and satisfaction.

Matt Hallam (pictured), the team manager and owner of the Brother UK-sponsored Crimson Performance cycling team, is a perfect example. A racer who runs two start-up companies, including a bike fitting business favoured by UCI WorldTour professionals, Matt adapted rapidly to the ‘new normal’. He took his bike-fitting business online for virtual consultations, loaned turbo trainers to front-line NHS staff to time-pressed for outdoor excursions, and used the Crimson Performance team car to deliver groceries to vulnerable members of his local community.

I've been talking and writing about work-life blend for more than fifteen years. The cloud computing revolution began to have a significant impact on working patterns in 2010. I recognised the BlackBerry device as a game-changer and within three months equipped our 50-strong sales force with a device that provided email on the move back in 2002. We became the first company in our industry to liberate our salespeople from the necessity of returning home to check emails via a dial-up modem or to rely on faxes sent to client premises. It seems a long time ago, but looking back, it was a tipping point for our working practices.

Our adoption of BlackBerry triggered a change in work habits. The subsequent explosion in the use of Android and iOS devices has added social media and multiple messaging applications to a growing list of business communications that continually demand attention. By using technology, almost all workers had already embraced the concept of a work-life blend. Now lockdown has made the integration of our personal and professional responsibilities a necessity.

Work-life balance seems an outdated concept during a period in which people are being told to work at the same time as educating, entertaining and feeding their children. Attempting to follow the old routines in such unprecedented times would make the experience almost impossible. Lockdown - rightly, given the stakes - has asked a lot from Britain's workforce. Fortunately, in the case of Brother UK, our people adapted swiftly, with the whole company mobilised at home within 24 hours of the full lockdown being announced by the government.

All of which leads us back to cycling. The pressure faced by many of the riders on our sponsored teams is considerable. Such demands have placed semi-professional riders ahead of the curve when considering work-life blend. They are time managers par excellence, and self-starters with sufficient motivation to fit the demands of training around the demands of a career. They are networkers who carry the camaraderie of the peloton into cyberspace with social media. And they are early adopters too: the speed with which many have embraced e-racing as a replacement for real-world events is impressive. Some might question the validity of virtual competition, but as a sponsor, I welcome it at a time when broadcast channels and consumers desire content.

As a business leader, I've been inspired by lockdown to look at increases in productivity since homeworking became a necessity and ask: 'Is this a new blueprint for how we operate?' I'd like to see domestic cycle sport look at e-racing and ask the same question. Is there an opportunity to create an extended calendar blended from virtual and real-world racing and to offer sponsors continued brand exposure in the winter months?

Zwift racing places professional cycling in the vanguard of e-sports by including a physical component in a digital challenge. Television coverage of the virtual Tour of Flanders combined in-game action with live footage of the contenders suffering on their smart trainers. Traditionalists have legitimate objections, of course, but it's important to remember that these are early days for e-racing. Other sports are already developing their e-portfolios. It's important that cycling isn't left behind.

E-racing offers Brother UK an audience in an online environment where previously none existed. It provides more opportunities for people to interact with the sport and a brand. Speaking as the leader of a business that already derives valuable return on investment from cycling, this can only be a good thing. We shouldn't overlook the wider benefits for a team, such as the ability for fans to ride alongside their cycling heroes (in the virtual world, at least), or to extend the sponsorship season as part of their commercial benefits.

In a recent article, I proposed that we've never been as isolated as in lockdown, and yet never so connected. From business to cycling, online meetings to online racing, our personal and professional lives have never been more integrated, whether we're technology professionals, as at Brother UK, or professional cyclists. Lockdown has made a work-life balance unattainable for most but has inspired many to embrace a more powerful model - the work-life blend.

Colleagues at Brother UK tell me in virtual chats that they miss the office. When we drill down, however, we discover that they mostly miss their colleagues and the social side of the work community. They don't really miss the commute or the inflexibility of a nine-to-five day. By working from home, having more self-orientation around their schedules and increasing their productivity, they've arguably demonstrated the same professionalism as the riders who carry our logo into Britain's biggest bike races.

Increasingly, a work-life balance seems a concept from an earlier age. When lockdown is fully lifted, we should not rush to re-engage with aspects of life that fell short of the ideal. Instead, we should use this enforced reset to embrace something better. Rather than just seeing the COVID-19 period as one in which things were suspended, instead, it's a perfect time to re-think, create and capitalise.