work life balance - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• 7 signs you're suffering from burnout — and what to do about it

  When you absolutely, positively no longer give a damn about your work, it's time to stop and recharge. Your soul, colleagues and family will thank you

• How employers can provide better mental health support

  ​Our mental health affects every facet of our life so it's not surprising to see it become more of a priority for employers too. While many companies may want to champion wellbeing among employees it can be difficult to know where to start.​

• CIO upfront: You can have a global technology career while living in NZ

  Technologists can live in places like New Zealand without any compromise to their career because increasingly local companies are deeply vested in AI and machine learning so that they may innovate at a rapid pace, writes Anna Curzon of Xero.
  

• CIO upfront: The IT department of one

  Make your own IT setup a bespoke fit with how you want to live. Invest in the tools you love, and take the time to integrate them, writes Tom Hadley of Imagetext.

• The 'stress epidemic'

  In 2005, at age 32, Dave Asprey realised he was literally working himself to death. At the time, he served as the director of product management at Netscaler, a fast-growing Silicon Valley startup that was being acquired by Citrix. Asprey was smack in the middle of the acquisition, working on integrating Netscaler's product line into Citrix's. He worked 60 hours a week, five days per week, checked email on weekends, and travelled at least once a month to Florida from California.

• In synch now

  Accenture always had an interest in video conferencing. Employees debate about the exact date when the first camera and monitor landed in a meeting room, but by most accounts, Accenture has tried to add video conferencing to its arsenal of collaborative technologies since the early 1990s. However, due to lagging technology, video conferencing never resonated as the world's largest consulting firm might have hoped.
  Television monitors, with bad pictures and big cameras mounted on top of them, didn't cut it. When conversing, meeting participants often had to look straight into a camera, rather than at a person; the camera's presence would dominate the experience and cause the person to forget what it took to run a good meeting, to collaborate on work projects. "The technology, historically, had great promise," says Frank Modruson, CIO at Accenture. "But the delivery didn't live up to expectations."

• Cutting through the divide

  A crucial aspect to women continuing to work in ICT is having a manager sympathetic to their needs, according to a new global survey on women in technology.
  The respondents, including New Zealand ICT professionals, say even when an employer has the right policies, implementing them can be problematic. Says one respondent: “Flexible working and job share would help, but it’s up to the manager’s discretion after maternity and a lot of them say ‘No, you need to be here full-time and work extra hours’.”