Pandemic or no pandemic, most of the world has embraced remote work vs. going back to the office. People love the conveniences remote work provides. Examples include eliminating the need to commute to work which saves a lot of time, flexible hours, a better work-life balance, and numerous studies have shown that it increases productivity for most.
However, for all its conveniences, remote work isn’t without its challenges as well. While others have achieved work-life balance with it, some find that having your home also be your office can blur the lines between work and personal time. This is especially true for remote workers who have children still living at home, who go to school, and need their parents’ attention. Instead of having dedicated work hours, they find themselves having to interrupt their work several times a day for parental duties, not to mention chores, which can be distracting and affect the quality of their work and ability to be productive.
Unfortunately, working parents will always have it harder due to the circumstances. However, we’ve compiled some useful tips to help alleviate some of the challenges.
1. Set your team’s expectations
Before anything, it’s important to be upfront with your colleagues about the realities of work from home for you. Make sure they understand how you’ll be navigating work and home life as a parent. Be clear that you can’t have a regular work schedule, that you’ll expect to be pulled from work at times to attend to your children. Any decent manager and teammates will be more than understanding.
2. Adjust your schedule and set boundaries
If you’re new to working from home, do a trial run or simply map out some possible work schedules and find out which one works best for you and your children. Note which times they need you the most throughout the day and which times are mostly quiet. Note as well which times you can’t compromise on (for example any bedtime rituals like story time, or helping them with homework, or having meals together) and which ones you can pass off to your spouse or a nanny (if that’s available to you) and which ones you can explain to your children as a time for you to be working. This all depends on their ages so make adjustments where necessary.
By doing this, you’ll be left with certain times of the day that you can dedicate solely to work and times to your children without having to compromise both and be distracted. Whatever that looks like, whether you’re able to have straight uninterrupted work time or you’re going to have constant breaks, it will help you develop a routine that you and your children can get used to.
Sharing this with your manager and teammates also helps set their expectations on when you’re working and when to set meetings with you.
3. Have a dedicated space for work that optimizes focus
Once you’ve set a schedule, it’s time to pick a space in the house where you can do work uninterrupted, a space you can teach your children is off-limits except for emergencies only.
Minimizing distractions in your workspace helps you to be in complete work mode when you’re in it. This can be a room in the house that you can turn into an office. If there isn’t any extra room, any non-communal corner of the house will do as long as everyone in the household knows the rules for that corner. If there isn’t such a corner, show your children your laptop or any work-related equipment or object and teach them that when you’re on these devices it means you’re working. Seeing these devices lets them know to give you your space.
4. Communicate constantly both with family and work
Whether you were able to create a schedule or routine that works for you and your family or not, it’s not set in stone. There are many factors that can change up your schedule that are out of your control. Your partner may not be available for help one day, or one of your kid gets sick as children sometimes do, or any number of sudden changes that you are impossible to predict and expect.
It’s important to constantly be communicating with both work and family. Let one and the other know whether if you can’t show up for them on a particular day or if you need deadlines and tasks reshuffled. As a parent, your priority will always be your family so try to focus any rearrangements for work only. Give work a heads up as soon as you can, but remember that you only owe them the information of whether you are able to work or not. Constant updates regarding your availability are helpful but absolutely not necessary.
5. Be kind to yourself and ask for help
Remember that everyone is adjusting to circumstances beyond our control. Working during a pandemic is hard enough as it is, add childcare to the equation and you deserve a medal.
Your days will be different, you can be very productive one day and completely have no time the next. Every day’s victory will look different. Showing up is already an achievement. Remind yourself that you are doing the best you can and that it’s okay to ask for help, whether at work or from your family. Know your limits and recognize when you need help.
Also remember that you are still your own person, before you are a parent and before you are an employee. You too have needs. Give time for self-care, whatever that means to you.
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