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Do we have enough milk to get through the week? Am I putting too many miles on my car—should I schedule an oil change? Did the kids brush their teeth this morning? Should I get a second opinion on the twins’ orthodontic work? Why are my fiddle-leaf figs dropping so many leaves this winter? Did I leave the coffee maker on? Did I leave my hair straightener on? What meetings do I have at work today? Will this outfit make sense for all those meetings? I need to pick up my dry cleaning. I have to sign the kids up for summer camp. I forgot to text my aunt back. I need to reschedule my meeting with Michelle when I get to the office. Did Louie’s eye look puffy this morning? I’m starving and didn’t bring my lunch to work. What am I going to eat? When am I going to eat? I overbooked my day again!
Each of us has a mental load, and that mess above is a small illustration of mine. It goes on and on, every day, on repeat. Yours likely contains different topics and, unlike The Home Edit, these topics are not nicely compartmentalized, beautifully labeled, and arranged by color. Oh, no. One second I might be contemplating my laundry pile and the next taking a deep dive into why sales are down this quarter.
At DORIS, we see the challenge of managing mental loads in our data. Many organization leaders are grappling with how to entice their workforce into the office more frequently. Their employees often resist, posing the argument that remote working allows a better work/life balance. But that “balance” is really the ability to integrate work and life with the autonomy to address the mental load for each throughout the day.
Why does it seem like mental loads play a bigger factor in the discussion about coming into an office than they did pre-pandemic? We find that the load itself has not necessarily increased, but the experience of working remotely has exposed people to a new understanding of what is possible.
For example, throwing that load of laundry in the wash at 10 a.m. on a coffee break allows me to remove it from the mental equation and more fully immerse myself in analyzing exactly why those sales are down. When I’m in the office, it might hang over my head until 6:30 p.m. when I am also trying to practice spelling words, make dinner, and negotiate how many more minutes of TV until bedtime.
DORIS has found that individuals feel the flexibility and ability to handle both “loads” at once makes for a positive personal experience. As we work with our clients’ employees to think about features they would like to see in their updated office space, many come up with ideas to help decrease the mental load they carry around. We see things like grocery pickup, laundry services, pet grooming, on-site health care centers, child care and even nail salons.
Of course, many of those features are impractical or impossible for organizations to provide. DORIS, with our vibrant staff of fewer than 10, certainly can’t sustain a laundry service on-site! But after talking to our team members about their mental load, we found things we as leaders can provide to help ease the burden (plus, I’ll bet DoorDash is pretty happy with our decision to provide lunch several days a week).
As business leaders consider asking their workforce to re-enter the office, or even if the workforce never left the office and just wants increased efficacy, they might ask their employees to talk about their mental loads, then figure out if there are ways to alleviate anything. The more pressure we can take off our workforce regarding menial mental-load items, the more space we can open up for big thinking.
In today’s world, we need to do everything we can to tap into the creative gray matter we all have but sometimes can’t reach because simple tasks are overloading our brains. I’d much rather spend less time thinking about groceries and laundry and more time thinking about what I might write in my next IBJ column.•
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Julka is founder of Indianapolis-based DORIS Research, which uses design thinking to organize workspaces.
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