Remote work, especially in a world【C1】_____by Covid-19, naturally leads to “flex time”. Employees with small children might be getting the majority of their work done at night【C2】__the kids are in bed. Others are working early and hoping to quit early. Still others are【C3】_____late and working late.

【C4】_____everyone on your team is working different hours, you may be getting emails and messages at【C5】__hours of the day, night, or weekend—which can quickly【C6】__an always available, or “always-on” environment. That might be【C7】__in some industries during challenging times, but【C8】__not in every industry and not for everyone in any industry. But once this takes root in your company culture, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to “reset” later. And “always-on” isn’t sustainable. It【C9】__pressure and quickly turns your company into an unpleasant place to work. It might cause even the most【C10】_____employees to consider other offers.

So how can you accommodate your employees’【C11】_____while still protecting your culture and your team’s work-life balance? The key is to【C12】__and encourage flex time while also defining clear “communication hours” (for example, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Outside of those hours, employees should be encouraged to【C13】_____ their settings to “Do Not Disturb” and to use the “schedule send” feature of their email client【C14】________messages only get delivered during communication hours.

If any correspondence must happen outside of the set communication hours, such as for【C15】_____or time-sensitive issues, make them phone or text only. This way people can comfortably close down all other communication【C16】__like email, Slack, instant messenger, etc. The act of having to call or text someone is usually enough to give the sender a【C17】__to think, “Do I really need this person now, or can the communication wait?” This allows everyone on your team to work whenever is【C18】__for them, but not feel like they have to work all the time to accommodate everyone else’s schedule. These challenging times don’t make downtime any less important.【C19】__, your team won’t handle the increased stress well【C20】_____downtime.

【C11】