I am sending you this email at this time, because it suits me.

Procurement during a pandemic: Life – Work Balance

 It happened so quickly, one minute we were in the office, the next, working from home. Work gave me a laptop and my kitchen table became my desk. My office phone was diverted to my personal mobile.

It was hectic but we coped, tenders still went out, interviews were conducted online and the word ‘Zoom’ entered into the office vocabulary. WhatsApp groups were created to foster instant communication and engage with suppliers.

 Two email trends stood out to me:

1.     Email volumes shot up – well they would. The casual conversations were gone, everything now had to be communicated electronically. MS Teams, Instant messages, phone calls and video conferencing offered multiple communication channels. It went from avoiding using my personal mobile phone at work to having to keep it on so as not to miss calls and messages.

I was glad when employers started recognising the impact this was having on staff.   Initiatives like Mental Health First Aiders and work support bubbles were formed. Employers recognised that email volumes and remote working was having a negative effect on staff, increasing stress levels and causing information overload.

Perhaps a further step employers could take, could be to introduce email etiquette training to curtail the use of blanket emails and unnecessarily copying colleagues in on emails.

2.     Another trend I noticed was the timing of emails. It was not uncommon to log in at 7am to find 5 new emails waiting in my inbox (none of which were there when I logged off at 6.30 pm the day before).

With the introduction of (even more) flexible working during the pandemic, the balance is now more life- work and not work- life balance (emphasis on life). I welcome this. Employers recognise the challenges faced by care givers, especially women who often have to run a triple shift of caring, teaching and working. 

 What I find really helpful is the growing number of people who include this (or similar) phrase in their signatures:

‘I am sending you this email at this time because it suits me. I don’t expect you to respond or action this email outside your own working hours’.  

 I think this is a genius phrase! and I encourage people to use it. It relieves the pressure, anxiety and stress to answer emails as quickly as they are received. It shows a recognition of flexible working and a respect of colleagues life-work balance. 

Another point I’ll sneak in here, is the issue of mobile phones. I think employers should invest in work mobile phones for staff. Recognising that personal phones should really not be used for office business. Not everyone gets free minutes on their mobile phone plans and expecting staff to pay for office calls, is asking a lot. I still get the odd call on my personal phone from ex-colleagues and suppliers who haven’t realised I moved jobs months ago.

Join the conversation and leave your comments below.

 Omobola Naomi Soko is a Chartered Member of CIPS. She is a specialist in procurement Artificial Intelligence and digital transformation.