One (well-deserved) Christmas present we may all be getting is a better work-life balance.
Around the world, conversations are turning to the now-obvious viability of WFH, employees’ increased bargaining power in a shrinking labour market and – more generally – a sort of collective head-scratching moment, as companies and workers try and figure out where things go from here.
This has been an eye-opener for many, but these new freedoms aren’t without their drawbacks.
The problem
A blur between home and work can lead to feelings of ‘always being on,’ and the intrusion of the workplace into peoples’ homes.
There’s also the missed face-to-face time with colleagues and clients.
And that intangible sense of ‘the team,’ that ebbs away when we spend only one or two days a month mucking in in person.
These are all problems that need addressing. And a recent law in Portugal aims to do just that.
Cracking down on boss’s stepping over the line and into employees’ private lives, the law responds to a situation all too common in WFH settings.
And especially in tech. A 24/7 sector by nature, the pandemic has pushed digital into overdrive, with customers flocking to online spaces for e-commerce, entertainment and more.
And in the cases where businesses simply weren’t ready to handle this uptick – which is the majority – it’s engineers, developers and IT teams who bear the brunt.
This is an idea we covered a while ago. But the pandemic, and the focus on digital-first, has only put a foot on the peddle.
The solution
We hate to say we told you so; so we won’t.
What we will say – however – is that anyone working with a true full-stack 24/7 support partner has landed quite smugly and squarely on Santa’s nice list this year.
Part of the value proposition of Just After Midnight has always been that support of complex, mission-critical apps and infrastructure is a specialist role, and shouldn’t be left to the designers and builders.
They’re fundamentally different tasks. And the emphasis Covid has placed on digital has really underlined this.
The good news is that – with the right partner – we can all get the Christmas present we deserve after nearly two years of unprecedented, unpredictable shake-ups.
With our team of Christmas elves on hand, your engineers, developers and IT teams can leave the office behind when they need to, to truly enjoy the redrawing of the life-work balance that’s been the silver lining for so many over this difficult time.
Plus our teams are designed to clock on when you clock off: working across the globe and connected by bespoke support platform Mission Control, we can guarantee any issue is solved in the course of a normal working day.
So it’s not like you’re trading in one set of overworked tech-sperts for another.
Looking forward
The bill introduced in Portugal is surely the first of many. And as workplaces adapt to a post-Covid world, the legislation will follow.
This is a great opportunity to get ahead of the curve and position yourself as a Covid-ready, digital-first workplace that puts its employees first (which can’t hurt in that aforementioned shrinking labour market).
And on that Machiavellian note – merry Christmas!
How we can help
To find out about our Christmas-saving, full-stack 24/7 support, or for anything else, just get in touch.
We clock on when you clock off, so if you need someone to step in over the holidays, we’ve got you covered.
