Building My Ideal Workweek

When I joined Hookdeck as Head of People and Culture last year, for the first time in my career I was able to create my own work schedule. I’ve worked remotely before, but always with set core business hours and never as a member of a completely distributed, asynchronous team.

As a parent to an energetic toddler and someone who likes to get involved in their community, a strict regimen is not always my best friend. Having the autonomy to set my own hours and work outside of a conventional schedule has helped me build a work/life balance that works for me. I’ve been learning how to make the most out of the freedom I’m permitted in this position, so follow me as I share my formula.

What does work/life balance mean to me?

Honestly, my ideal work/life balance is pretty simple on the surface: it’s ensuring that I have the ability to spend time with my daughter, be a good partner to my husband, and leave a little bit of space and time for myself. Of course, this is possible when working set hours, but I’ve found that the flexibility I’m afforded now allows me to engage with these three things in completely new ways.

What do I mean by that? Let me explain how it plays out in real life.

What does it look like in practice?

First, I’ll give you an overview of the general formula I’ve developed over the past few months. I haven’t completely ditched the traditional Monday to Friday work schedule: I definitely protect my weekends, and I usually work a 9-5 schedule around three days a week. The other days I give myself the option to start earlier or later (I weirdly work best either super early in the morning or super late at night).

Okay, cool, that’s my schedule, but what does it mean? It means I’m often free to do things during the day! Which I take advantage of in 2 big ways:

• My daughter! I’m there when she’s home sick, I share picking her up from daycare with my husband, I can even bring her to a music class for toddlers in the middle of a traditional workday.

• Myself! I can fit a workout routine into my morning, I have the option to garden when it’s light out, and I’m able to volunteer for organizations that meet during the day.

This version of work/life balance is new to me but I took the opportunity and ran with it, and I’m happy I did. Work is very important to me, but it’s not my whole identity, and Hookdeck really understands that and gives me the space and trust to grow both as a member of the team and as an individual.

Working as part of a team

As a team, we know the importance of communication given that we’re not all in the same place at the same time. For example, we keep track of one another’s vacations using a tracker, we use Loom to explain more complicated thoughts, and we have a 24 hour response policy that almost never takes that long. And yes, no one brings leftover cookies into the office, but instead we share fun things going on in our lives through a show-and-tell thread and meet up for retreats. All to say that I feel like I’m part of something, even though we work in different places and sometimes at different times.

Conclusion

Over the past few months, Hookdeck has given me the freedom to develop a really beautiful balance of work and life. I’m able to do all sorts of things that wouldn’t be possible in a “typical” workplace, but I still get the camaraderie of a workplace (our second retreat is coming up!). It feels like I fit my work into my lifestyle, and I’ve seen my teammates fit work into theirs. If this sounds like a fit for you, check out our open positions here.