Segmentors vs Integrators: Google’s work-life-balance research
rework.withgoogle.com
rework.withgoogle.com
At least in the NYC startup scene, I’ve noticed a tendency for coworkers to spend a lot of time together outside the office. I used to do it, too. Not just the occasional Thursday evening beer, but every weekend, or even several times a week. They treat it as their main social circle.
I’m a programmer, but coincidentally most of my friends are artists. I enjoy that they’re not particularly invested in what I do, but I still feel appreciated when they sometimes ask about “how the internet works” or “what really is coding anyways?” I can be a “tech guy” but not make it my entire identity.
Overall, I think it’s better that when I’m with friends I get to talk about the other aspects of life, and take a break from being constantly tech-focused. And, of course, get my mind off of work for once!
I believe it is good to build up a strong socialization fabric, woven out of people who you don't spend all working-day with. We have a "neighborhood dads" group that cuts across professions but tend to have age in common. You can have a hobby group that cuts across all kinds of demographic and political views, but is focused on a single activity. If I lose or quit my job, I don't also suddenly lose daily contact with my friends. If your only friends are workmates, that's more of a single string that can snap rather than a strong woven fabric.
None of us work at the same company, but the friendship endured 15 years.
If you are on your mid 20s, my advice is to make as many friends as you can and experience as many things as you can.
Start working hard for your career and promotions only on your late 20s.
My other advice: Don’t take work personal. Just think it as long term contract (2-3-4 years) which eventually will end. Don’t fret or worry too much about the management’s decisions. It is something you can’t control. If a work place is becoming not friendly and more toxic, feel free to detach and go to a place that fits you better. People they get involved too much emotionally to a job have harder time with this.
Being professional means you are there to get a job done (and not for validation), and don’t make work the center of your life. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make friend there.
I'm pushing 50, so my parents are boomers. While they had a much easier ride than their children and grandchildren in many ways, one thing that buggered a lot of them in the 80s was that the idea of long-term employment was brutally ripped away. People who had worked at the same firm for 20 or 30 years were unceremoniously dumped out of work by Chainsaw Al Dunlap inspired gutting of companies; many of those people had their personal relationships revolve around work as well as their professional life, and were kicked in the guts twice by the process, losing their social circle at the same time as the upheval of their financial lives. Being dependent on your employer for your social circle, your income, and your professional development is a terrible thing.
Secondly, personally, if I hang out with people I work with, I have a hard time talking about stuff that's not work. It's not healthy for me, and probably tedious for them (unless they suffer from the same problem). We need to breathe. Rehashing the working day in your evenings and weekends is not a way to decompress. Others may be different, but I am happier if I spend my evening talking about, say, the points in common of Villneuve's Duke Leto and Cornwell's Arthur, rather than which person is being an annoying arsehole.
In my experience doing other activities (golfing, 5 a side football, painting miniatures, a book club, whatever) is a great way to avoid that problem.
hell yea, yes it's pretty healthly to have work-life balance
think about this:
you probably spent years at college/uni being sorrounded by nerds, then at work place 8h/day everyday,
then probably on the internet - hackernews, so what left? your SO being coder too? your friends working in IT too?
there's nothing wrong with wanting to avoid burnout.
I grew up and went to college in Massachusetts, and now live in NYC metro area. Many of the folks I count as part of my good friends or even best friends aren't nearby. So my friendships with them rely heavily on group texts, and infrequent in-person gatherings.
But like lots of folks here, I worked a LOT during my 20s/earlier 30s and spent a lot of time in the office with coworkers, and subsequently a lot outside the office with coworkers. Four of my colleagues from the company I worked at from age 23-29 were groomsmen in my wedding. Two of those folks live in NYC metro with me. We're still very close. Work/industry-related conversation isn't exhausting with them because they're some of the smartest folks I know (again: in the same industry).
I sometimes find friendships outside of this context exhausting. Some people don't have interesting lives or careers or both! Work provides a logical conduit to establish a friendship or quickly decide if someone won't be a friend.
I can’t stand events even during the day, though I get it. I’d still rather be with my family or friends outside of work 100% of the time.
That said, I get along with my co-workers and we have great fun on trips and what not. But the goal is still making a living so I can enjoy time with my family.
When my kids are old enough, I also intend them to attend and learn what I do. When I was a kid my parents taught me everything about their work. It was exceedingly valuable. I think a lot of the corporate culture today has really been detrimental to children.
Imagine if you told a child or college student they shouldn't make friends with their classmates in school, but instead only make friends with activities out of school. We spend a large amount of our lives at work and school, lets make it enjoyable.
The culture of 'you should be miserable at work, because it's WORK' is toxic.
I also think it's ok to make friends outside of work too.
If you keep this up for the next 10 years, what will you have to say about yourself and your accomplishments?
Is it possible that people who are otherwise happier "segment" better as a result? Someone lonely or unhappy might naturally try to get their social needs met via work, for example.
Perhaps it's a space-filling thing, where if you don't have those things for whose sake you need to set boundaries, including a hard unplug, work creeps into the available space?
Or maybe it's a combo of competency and healthy work environment. You feel comfortable that you can get things done during business hours, and that your employer does not expect anything more, and so you feel good about setting boundaries, and that confidence is correlated with happiness?
> For example, in 2012 our Dublin office ran a program called “Dublin Goes Dark” in which they asked people to drop off their devices at the front desk before leaving for the night. Googlers said that this site-wide effort resulted in a shared sense of stress relief for many.
Like, don't check email after work hours? Or, don't be personal friends with coworkers? Or don't discuss personal plans during work small talk?
There's a lot of different ways to "separate personal and work lives", and there's a lot of different interpretations between how blurry that line can be before you have a separation or don't have separation.
At Google's scale, individuals have different preferences for all of these things. Some people don't want to read email after they leave the office at 5pm. Other people leave at 3pm to pick up kids, but sign back on from 7pm to 11pm to address stuff. Others will work whatever hours M-F but won't respond to emails on the weekend. Someone else works with a team across an ocean, and so they check email Sunday through Thursdays or Tuesday through Saturday. It's not one size fits all; it's about creating a work environment where folks feel comfortable talking about enabling flexibility without creating expectations of being always-on.
I then poke a very well chosen set of holes in the firewall: some coworkers get added on signal on my personal phone. Some personal tasks that are time sensitive happen during work time. ...sometimes pages happen during personal time.
This makes sure that for the most part, stuff stays where it's supposed to be. But when exceptions are made, they're very high leverage.
The meals and sleep parts seem more or less like ways to keep us effective at the aforementioned work.
If you are single and just arrived in a new place, you probably won't have a lot of friends, and you will naturally form new friendships in the places you are the most often, and work is an obvious one. Like school is for students. So at least for some time, you will be an "integrator".
The opposite is for people who have been in the place for many years before getting hired, they already have a lot of friends, have a lot to do after work and don't have time to integrate a new group, they will be "segmentors".
Also, especially now, friendships tend to outlast jobs, and therefore, "integrators" can turn into "segmentors" as their group of friends no longer work together.
I like meeting people and making friends, and even if I attain perfect work life balance that social aspect won’t change.
segmentors are significantly happier, maybe because they have opportunity to hang out with non-work friends. for people who just moved across the country to a brand new city, work is their primary source of socialisation. they hang out with coworkers also because they dont know many other people.
However. I suspect this does not project well on the lives of entrepreneurs and self-directed workers.
For example, I believe if you were to include on this survey non google staffers, like entrepreneur farmers, merchants, mercenaries, i.e. roles of independent, founder devs, and any self-directed entrepreneurs that live their profession 24/7, i suspect you'd find that they are far happier than the rest of the sample set.
There is nothing wrong with overlap of work and play, if work IS play and you enjoy it. The vast majority of entrepreneurs do because as owners they can do their job as they see fit.
Anecdotally, i see this evidenced quite often when i see entrepreneurs retire due to external pressures: once founders give up their raison d'etre, their health decline is fast and dramatic.
This on top of dealing with my personal struggles head-on has overall made me much happier, and I’d say more efficient.
That's pretty ironic given that Google (and their ilk) have invested so much into making their campus' "sticky." Will this signal a sea change? I'm doubtful...