It’s an age-old problem—striking that balance between your work and personal life. On the face of it, the problem seems a little bit like a catch-22. In the first place, you want to keep your work separated out from the rest of your life, not letting it affect family time, social occasions, sports, hobbies, and so forth. But, at the same time, you don’t want to take all the life out of your work. That is, you don’t want your workplace and work-life to be lifeless and devoid of social interaction.

Thankfully, modern work philosophy has come a long way in the last few decades, and most of us now appreciate the importance of striking a good work-life balance (even if we don’t always achieve it). Now more than ever, we understand how our work environment affects our wellbeing, and also how our wellbeing affects our productivity at work.

Thankfully, too, modern workplaces are now being specifically designed to help people strike the right work-life balance, enhancing wellbeing and productivity at the same time. From this angle, the work-life balance can look a lot less like a catch-22 scenario and a lot more like a win-win.

So, how exactly can we strike the right work-life balance in the modern office workplace?

Well, striking this balance is at the very core of Christie Spaces’ approach to designing and facilitating the modern office space, and this is no more evident than in our shared office spaces. Our shared office spaces give you a way of keeping work at work, while also making your work environment vibrant and enjoyable.

Let’s break it down into the two main insights we have.

Keeping Work and Life Separate with a Shared Office

We all know that the essential thing in striking a work-life balance is to not let your work take over your life. To stop this from happening, you need to have a clear idea of when it’s time to work and when it’s time to have fun and relax.

But, in reality, it’s difficult to simply stop work and say, ‘Now it’s time to live’. We can’t just flick that switch. However, it’s a lot easier to separate work-time from living time when there is a clear separation of workspace from living space.

Particularly in 2020, many people have tried setting up home offices. But, as so many of these people have discovered, a home office is a surefire way to confuse the work-life balance – it becomes increasingly hard to tell when you’re ‘at work’ and when you’re ‘at home’. In the worst possible scenario, we find it hard to focus when it’s time to work and we also find it hard to keep our mind off work when it’s time to relax.

Having a desk in a shared office space allows you to create a clear spatial division between where you work and where you live. In turn, this makes it a lot easier for you to know when it’s time to work and when it’s time to relax.

By having a desk in a shared office in the city, you are giving yourself a dedicated space to focus on work, enhancing your productivity while you are there. But, because of the physical separation of this space from the rest of your life, it becomes much easier to leave your work behind when you go home each day.

Bringing Work and Life Together with a Shared Office

Although you want to separate work from life, you don’t really want to have to separate life from work. At Christie Spaces, we don’t want you being stuck at your desk all day, waiting until it’s finally time to go home.

That’s why we have kitted out our bright, open office spaces with beautiful modern kitchens and comfortable break rooms where you can relax and socialise while you are at work. We actively encourage social interaction in our shared office spaces, because we know that this leads not only to higher levels of wellbeing but also to opportunities for networking and collaboration. You can meet and socialise with your coworkers on a daily basis, and also at the regular social events we host throughout the year.

One of the greatest benefits of working in a shared office space is the variance of your coworkers! It’s an essential part of the shared office lifestyle to share, learn, and collaborate with these people – networking across a variety of industries.

Striking this work-life balance is exactly the kind of social vibrancy that our shared offices are designed for and which contributes to our members achieving a healthy work-life balance.