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Stephanie Yates is a Managing Associate based in London. Below Steph shares how TLT World allows her to get outside and run during daylight hours in the winter and provides the flexibility to support her when she suffers an episode of insomnia.
My team (in London) now has a set hybrid working arrangement – we all do two days a week in the office and three days working remotely. Our office days are set (but can be changed if needed) so that our secretary, trainee and Associate always have a senior member of the team in on their office days. My specialism is residential property for high net worth individuals, which means that a lot of my work is still paper based. It is very useful to have a consistent presence in the office across the team, without having to be in five days a week. Despite the progress made to move to digital, there are some aspects of our work which requires us to use wet ink originals, although I live in hope that one day I can do a completely digital real estate transaction!
Yes – I was one of “those” people who got a dog in the pandemic! However, I hasten to add that it wasn’t a spur of the moment decision – I had actually looked into getting a dog two years prior and, after a lot of research, reluctantly came to the conclusion that I simply couldn’t justify it with working five days a week in the office. Once I knew flexible working was here to stay, along came Willow who has been causing chaos ever since! She often likes to join my team meetings and is very popular with clients – and she has perfected her puppy dog eyes for the camera. The second (and most important) thing is that I get to spend more quality time with my extended family, who live a couple of hours away in the Midlands.
I work remotely on Mondays and Fridays so when I am visiting them for a weekend, I like to spend an extra day there by working from my Dad’s home office rather than having to rush back to London on a Sunday evening. Time with them is precious and it is so nice not to feel like I am paying only a fleeting visit – an added bonus being that Mrs Yates senior is an excellent baker so keeps an endless supply of coffee and cakes coming during the working day!
Steph and her dog Willow
I have always found it difficult to be able to take time to exercise outdoors during the winter – running is my exercise of choice but it is a sad fact that I simply don’t feel safe running alone in the dark. Indeed, for so many women it is the case that in winter our “outside day” ends when daylight ends. Being able to pop out for a run at lunchtime or early afternoon is a gamechanger. If I am working from home and have an afternoon with no meetings, I love being able to just step outside for a good run – knowing that I can make up the time if needed later in the day, at home, when it is dark!
I suffer from time to time with insomnia and it really helps to be able to stay at home when I am having a bad episode. Interestingly, since we began remote / flexible working my insomnia episodes have reduced, and I think it is partly because I have the reassurance in the back of my mind that if necessary, I can be at home and work at my own pace without feeling that inner guilt of “letting the team down”. I work hard to try and ignore that internal narrative but it does also help that there is no longer a wider perception of “if you aren’t in the office, you aren’t working” – insomnia and stress go hand in hand and it can become a vicious cycle. I am sure everyone knows that feeling of not being able to sleep and thinking “I must leave the house in X hours, therefore I only have Y hours left before I have to get up!”
Date published
10 April 2024