Due to the pandemic many people have had to change the way they work and I have been one of them. I’ve been now working from home, doing my full time 9 to 5, since April 2020.
Funny thing is, pre pandemic whenever myself or any of my colleagues asked whether it’d be possible to work from home, we always got the ‘it’s impossible’. Having the flexibility of being able to work from home, in my opinion, especially as a parent is essential.
There have been many a times where I have had to take annual leave, when if I had the option of working from home I could have still worked. You know for things like having to stay at home all day for the electric or gas engineer to come? Or when your child has a midday doctors appointment that you would only have take an hour off work when working from home but instead you have to take the whole day off? That.
Nevertheless, covid proved many employers wrong and changed the face of the typical office life.
What has been my experience?
It has been a hit and miss.
Working full time at home whilst taking care of a toddler has been most definitely challenging.
At first, when I had some help, I use to pretend to go to work and lock myself in one of the rooms and only come out at ‘home time’. This exactly wasn’t healthy at all and eventually Aazeen caught me one day and that was an end to that.
June onwards, it was just the two of us and I was really nervous on how I was going to dedicate myself at work and at the same time meet Aazeen’s needs. I was honest with my Manager and we agreed if it got a bit much I could have an ‘extended break’ this only lasted for a while and eventually annoyingly you end up feeling guilty over it when compared to your colleagues..
Aazeen also dropped her one daytime nap, great timing eh?
Eventually I got in the swing of things, Aazeen started nursery, we were allowed to form support bubbles so I was able to get the help I needed but of course when your child just wants mummy, there’s no stopping that is there?
Any negatives?
Lack of communication – although we have a group chat on our work laptops, sometimes someone in the team may forget to comment or answer a query which then sometimes does lead to a bit of awkwardness and you feel like you’re being ignored when actually that might not be the case.
You feel like you’re being watched all the time! I think many people are under the impression that if you work from home, it’s easily to get away with being ‘lazy’ or you do other things other than your actual work.
It is actually quite far from that. You are under the eye more which means you can’t slip due to being audited more.
Another negative is that you hardly take leave, even when you are sick. You think to yourself that you’re in the comfort of your home so there’s no harm in working, is there?
Despite the negatives, I think everyone should have the option to work from home, so in certain circumstances you don’t have to sacrifice your leave.
What’s the future like?
I no longer work full time but instead have reduced my hours so now only have to work 3 days a week. Working from home had shown me that I spend too much time working rather than with myself or my daughter. I noticed I was getting increasingly unhappy. So, for my mental well-being and for Aazeen, I took this step last month and I can already feel the positives.
Just last week my manager asked me to give her a date of my return to the office, it doesn’t have to be immediately but they’d like to know, so I guess the journey of the work from home life is coming to an end.
Yes, I would loved to have continued to work from home as it is so beneficial especially as a parent so I will be asking if I could still have the option to when need be. Whether I get that or not, who knows?!
Has the pandemic changed the way you work?
I agree with this. I also found it hard coping with the lack of interaction with people. Great read 👍
I was only a month into my full-time internship (also during my last semester of college) when we shifted to virtual. The internship seamlessly shifted to a full-time job the day after my finals. I don’t know what it is like to work in the office. This is all I’ve known. Everything I learnt on communication with colleagues is through online portals. There are definitely negatives which I know would be better in office. My main problem is the blurring of boundaries and the way I end up working too much because “I’m at home anyway and can do it”. We don’t have a date or idea of when we’ll go back to in-person but I’m eagerly waiting for it.
Kudos to you for making this work with a toddler! I’m glad you had the flexibility to work part time which gives the best balance of both worlds. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am personally an extroverted individual and couldn’t wait to return in person to everything. That being said I do know some people who have really enjoyed work from home and am glad you were able to figure it out!
Working from home definitely has its ups and downs and it is a fine balance to find, especially if you have kids. Love that you found something that works for you!
I know many employers want everyone back in the office these days, but more and more people are enjoying the flexibility of working from home, so I will be curious to see how the choices everyone makes affect what the future will start to look like!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 🙂
The pandemic changed so many things. I’m glad it helped put some things into perspective for you! It helped me realize the skills I’ve been putting off and therefore wasting.
I am a doctor so I have no option for a work from home. But this pandemic has definitely showed everyone that a lot of adjustments can be made to work if one just tries it. I hope you get permission to continue working from home, *fingers crossed*
Working from home has been a learning curve, hasn’t it? Sometimes I feel like I am fully on it, other times I am just confused and feel kind of oppressed too – similar to what you feel at times. The joys of working from home!