My work/life balance
Hi, I’m Tom, a front-end engineer at the John Lewis Partnership, and today I wanted to talk about my work/life balance and what a typical day looks like for me.
The Covid-19 pandemic forced a lot of us to work remotely. While this wasn’t everyone’s first preference and it wasn’t always easy, it did present opportunities for a lot of us to achieve a more equal work/life balance. Working for the Partnership, I’ve been fortunate enough to have this flexibility. I wanted to share with you why this is important to me.
I usually start work around 6am, I’ve always been an early riser so this isn’t a problem for me. It’s a nice quiet part of the day and it allows me to focus my thoughts and work out what I need to do without any outside distractions. Before I even start work, though, I like to use a mindfulness app and do some form of meditation. The Partnership also helps in this regard as we all have access to Unmind.
Around 8.30am I take a short break to walk my children to school. There’s a couple of benefits here:
- It gives me a bit of exercise and allows me to take a break from a screen. This also gives me time to think over any tricky coding issues I might have come across that morning.
- Most importantly, I get to spend time with my children, asking them questions and (hopefully) getting them excited about what they’re going to do that day. We might also sing songs or have a race. We finish with a high-five at drop-off and tell each other to have a great day.
I’ll then work through until lunch, attending meetings and pair programming.
During my lunch break I like to step away from a screen again. Depending on the English weather, I’ll either go for a walk around the countryside near where I live, or I’ll try and do some exercise — either that or I’ll try and complete some household chores! This lets me switch off from work mode, but quite often a solution to a work problem might present itself when I’m not solely focused on it.
As most of my hours are completed in the morning, I’ll then work through until 2.45–3pm depending on school and nursery pick-up times. I’ll ask my children about their days and because I’ve done my chores at lunch, I’m then free to be present with them and spend time playing or whatever it is they want to do!
My team is aware of when I finish and accommodates me. If I’m pairing on a ticket with another developer, we’ll usually discuss what’s outstanding when I sign off for the day, and they will normally leave me a message at the end of their day with where they got to, so I can carry on in the mornings.
Of course, if there’s anything critical that requires my attention outside of my standard working hours I do my best to help out as I understand the business has needs as well. Thankfully, due to the nature of my team and the work we’re doing, I can’t recall an incident when this has happened.
Working from home has also given me the ability to attend school plays, open days and any other appointments. It allows me to get quality time with my family, see my children developing, and doing the school drop-off has meant I’ve met a lot more of the local dads — this has led to us dusting off our boots and playing football once a week in the evenings!
I’ve spoken a lot about the benefits to my “life” balance, but what about the work side of things? As I mentioned previously I try to be accommodating wherever I can to the needs of the business. Knowing I have time at lunch and in the evenings to complete other tasks also means I’m more “present” and focused during those working hours which leads to greater productivity. I’m also fortunate to be working with a great team who all support each other.*
I know working from home and waking up early isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m grateful for the Partnership giving me the flexibility to work in a way that suits me. I feel cared about as a Partner and trusted to do my job.
I’d love to hear stories about other people’s work/life balance, what benefits you see, how to make quality time even better, or any other tips to be more productive. So please share any tips in the comments! I can’t quite bring myself to wake even earlier to complete a workout yet — but with the mornings getting brighter who knows!
At the John Lewis Partnership we value bringing the creativity of expert software engineers to bear on the challenges of discovering innovative solutions. We craft the future of two of Britain’s best loved brands (John Lewis & Waitrose) in an environment which respects diversity, values personal development and empowers individuals. We are currently recruiting across a range of software engineering specialisms. If you like what you have read and want to learn how to join us, take the first steps here.
* For those wondering, I currently work on standard-pdp — we develop the “standard” version of our product pages for all those nice things that don’t sit within a specific niche.
