Avoid blurring

Telecommuting, hyperconnection: how can you avoid blurring?

7 a.m.: Over your bowl of coffee, you mechanically click on your work emails to check the latest messages received.

10:50: You take a short break to make a dental appointment for your son.

12:00: You continue rereading your ppt presentation while eating your salad.

4.15pm: You take a tour of LinkedIn and get lost on the Monceau langues blog.

9 p.m.: A text message from your boss! You reply immediately.

Does this day speak to you? You may be a victim of blurring.

Blurring" is a term that is once again coming to the fore, particularly in the current context of widespread teleworking. But what exactly does it mean?

Some people are familiar with this make-up technique, which consists in concealing and making skin imperfections disappear. In management, it's also about camouflage: blurring refers to the blurring of the boundary between personal and professional life. Since we're talking about interference, we can translate it into French as "brouillage professionnel" (professional blurring).

On the surface, blurring has everything going for it. It's an excellent way of relieving the guilt of taking short breaks to deal with personal matters, or of absent-mindedly glancing at social networks or online shopping sites as we feel empowered. But it also requires our vigilance, as it can also mean postponing work tasks to evenings, weekends or vacations. Since we trust you...And this is where professional jamming can prove dangerous, as it no longer allows us to disconnect and recharge our batteries.

Along with working from home, part-time employees are among the most likely to fall into this "blurring" of life times, with a tendency not to establish clear boundaries or disconnect between days worked and not worked.

At a time when the health crisis has made telecommuting widespread for millions of employees, the question of the boundary between professional and personal life is being raised more than ever.

The latest study by Randstad's Workmonitor highlights the extent of this phenomenon. More than a majority of employees surveyed (in 34 countries) are concerned by work-life imbalances, more specifically by their employer's demand for availability outside working hours. France occupies an intermediate position: better than the world average, but not ahead of the game either. What's more, significant disparities are visible according to age or level of education: the French working population is not equal when it comes to reconciling private and professional life.

It's true that telecommuting may have been seen as a privilege when the health crisis arrived, but the complicated times we're living through have shown that inequalities persist even among telecommuters. For some households, the conversion has gone smoothly, but many lower-income professionals have encountered difficulties. Employers are becoming increasingly vigilant on these issues.

Despite all this, telecommuting is still very popular with employees, but only to a limited extent. It's all a question of finding the right balance, a challenge that will have to be met once this crisis is over.

How can you limit the negative effects of blurring? Here are a few tips!

☕ Set up rituals to mark the start and end of your working day
🗃 If possible, set up a space dedicated solely to your work
🔌 Allow yourself digital disconnection! And confirm with your managers that no immediate response is expected when an e-mail is sent at staggered hours.
📲 Limit your notifications to the essentials: business notifications during your working hours and personal notifications during your private time.