Many of us have shifted to work remotely these days due to the coronavirus pandemic. This means that we have had to readapt our daily routines and combine it with the rest of our family’s routines.
So, these days when there are lots of families living together and actually staying at home together 24/7 things can get really tricky to work effectively. This is why we’ve pointed out 5 essential rules to making confining with your family compatible with working.
Make a daily timetable
It’s important you make this timetable with your partner, who is very probably working from home as well. Both of you need to try to plan holistically and foresee that there will be many interruptions by the kids or the housework. One trick can be to reserve 2-hour free from interruptions for each of the adults during the morning, and 1 or 2 hours free from interruptions during the afternoon. This way, both of you will ensure two hours a day to really focus on finishing tasks, make calls or remote meetings.
Communicate a lot
A great part of the plan is based on communication: first with your couple, to organize, then with the kids, (you will have to explain to them that from 9 to 11 they’ll have to contact daddy and from 11 to 13 they’ll have to contact mummy, for example). But also with your manager, who is probably a human being with similar problems to yours.
If you are a man and have kids, explain which are the tasks you do every day with your children and housework, as often, due to gender bias an incorrect perception that you have fewer responsibilities at home is created. The same if you are a woman, talk to your boss and commit to what you can finish this week but don’t over-promise.
Keep your biorhythms at bay
This means eat well, sleep enough, get a shower every day, get dressed, do some exercise at home (in family, yeah, it can be fun!), follow your timetable, and attach to a certain mental order. Remember you love your family more than everything, this is key.
Check priorities
Life has changed substantially in very few days. Confirm with your manager and your colleagues that priorities are still the same or if they’ve changed. Probably deadlines are less urgent and many companies are reinventing. The working rhythm is also being different these pandemic days. Make sure you are aligned with the team and that deadlines and tasks are reasonable regarding the circumstances we all are living.
Show compromise
At the end, this experience may serve to value things differently and perhaps your job is no more an office you used to go to and spend eight hours stressed with a lot of stressed colleagues. Maybe we all become more human after this experience and realize that we are indeed very committed to our jobs, to what we do for a living, to our managers and colleagues. Because drama unites people in bad times.
Stay safe, stay home!
