#15 New Work - deep dive beyond the buzzword with Elly Oldenbourg

Updated: Sep 15, 2022

A lot of us associate #NewWork with working at our kitchen table, getting on a work call while feeding the baby, or being in the office more flexibly, especially since COVID-19 redefined how we work.

But Google exec Elly Oldenbourg says its meanings are much deeper, its origins much older - and that we have to move beyond our current idea of working “flexibly”, because it’s just not serving us.

“You unofficially stay on 100% which often means 200%, and you get paid less,” she says. "That is not what flexible working really means, and that is the trap that many part-timers - especially those that work close to full-time, fall into. It’s easier to say yes, of course I’ll do that, yes I want to be visible, yes of course I want to have this amazing project. But that is not flexible working.”

Instead, as with all things in life, it’s about balance. Finding the right balance between work and “the other tasks in life [that] make life worth living.”

In this podcast, Elly introduces a number of different ways of doing this, including finding the right working model for you, your team at work, and the people in your life. This can mean -

· working the same hours but flexibly - so partly at home, or outside of the typical 9-5 workday;

· working part-time - either a shorter workday so that you have family-time in the afternoon, or working full days and taking whole days off;

· job-sharing: sharing a full-time role with someone else;

· "any other flexible working form you can think of!” Talk to your employer and your team and see what works.

The overarching goal is simple: to live "life the best I can, contributing to a healthy me, a healthy surrounding, a healthy family and a healthy society.” ❤️

I had this conversation with Elly during the lockdown in 2021, but her insight and advice remain as relevant and invaluable as ever. 🎧 Listen to it here:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2RbCQpjgN4CjFByaBRKyHM?si=eadJWdOcSP-HjJG_kRzAzA

Youtube: https://youtu.be/vlFG-5Jv2C4

And let us know what you are doing to balance your work life with the other things that make life worth living!

#ImpulseSessions #getinspired #newwork #futureofwork #flexiblework #selfcare #femalecareers #carework #womenchangemakers #womenleaders #parenthood #podcast #inspiration #MyCollective #getinspiredpodcast