Can Your Team Disconnect?

Hello and welcome to Episode 72 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

 

Today we’re unpacking a new phenomenon we’re seeing at work, thanks largely to increased technology and our move towards hybrid teams harnessing remote work – that is ‘availability creep’.

 

We all know the feeling, we hear the email come through on our phone whilst we’re getting the kids breakfast. It’s 7am, we know we don’t need to check it right now but we do, and then we have a knot in our stomach about the issue we just read about that we have to deal with in a couple of hours. No one is expecting us to read and respond to emails at all hours of the day and night, but because we can we do – and ultimately that leads to a failure to disconnect, and that is a fast track to burnout.

 

Studies show that this availability creep is starting to have a real impact on our teams, to the extend that some organisations are starting to legislate the ‘right to disconnect’ in their Enterprise Agreements.

 

Today I share with you my top tips to quashing the availability creep with your team and ensure they have the capacity and confidence to disconnect.

 

I also referred to some previous episodes of the Podcast where we discussed other strategies around this, namely:

 

Episode 16 – The Third Space

 

Episode 60 – How Great is a 4 Day Work Week?

 

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, HR Support for Australian Businesses, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.