Working at home: 5 tips for moms and dads who are in the home office

Working at home: 5 tips for moms and dads who are in the home office

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You are Working at home and did the new routine create a deep bottleneck between your productivity and living with your children, also in quarantine?

Well then, it is worth reading this article, which will explore both the actions that companies can take to help in this moment of uncertainty, as well as helping fathers and mothers to be more productive and still maintain family harmony.

See, below, the 5 tips that we have separated for those who are working at home in a home office regime:

  1. Establish a unique place to work
  2. Set up a routine
  3. Recover pre-pandemic activities with adjustments
  4. Know the time to slow down
  5. Talk to your superiors

Good reading!

The challenges of those who are working at home with children in quarantine

Productivityshaken concentration and disposition. This is in the midst of a new routine, in which the home and the office are confused and, instead of co-workers, the children share the same environment as their parents during business hours, since classes have been suspended in recent months.

The pandemic brought new (and worrisome) meanings to everyday life. Who helps to reinforce this is the result of Entretempos, which pointed to a higher index of sadness and concern in children (in 57% of the 600 respondents) between six and 11 years of age.

For the parents, the problem is the increased concern about the family's health and financial stability, in addition to the peaks of anxiety and tiredness – 46% of adults said they worked more in this period of home office and home care at the same time.

Other surveys, in the same period of social isolation, highlighted other alarming data, such as:

  • mothers are able to dedicate only 1/3 of what fathers are able to, since they are more prone to other activities, such as taking care of children – a task that fathers do not perform with the same regularity;
  • mothers are 47% more likely to be unemployed;
  • compared to fathers, mothers spend an extra 15 hours a week on household chores.

Therefore, women are more overwhelmed working at home.. What sets challenges complementary to your routines!

Sharing the same workspace with children

As we have already pointed out, isolation has broken down borders and the synonyms of office and home have shuffled like letters in the wind. Thus, it is difficult to maintain focus and often have to share the same devices as children – such as computers and printers, among others.

Assume the role of educator

Mothers and fathers also have to take care of their children's school activities, while dealing with their ongoing responsibilities for their respective professions.

Working from home, they should also be aware of whether their children are following their school schedule, studying or even coping well with the isolation of the pandemic.

Split routine

It is also difficult to know how to place limits on working hours and have a healthy family routine. After all, not all companies (and professionals) were familiar with the home office, and the adaptation was painful for many people.

To change this situation, we even have an excellent tip for you: as soon as you finish this reading, take a look at our article that points the benefits of home office and the path to an effective and secure implementation!

Lack of support

With a country in quarantine, it is difficult to count on the help of friends, godmothers, grandparents and uncles, among other people who could contribute to the relief in the routine of parents and their children.

In other words: everyone is more isolated, concentrating the rigors of their problems at home, without great solutions to reduce this impact in a safe way for everyone.

Focus on work

It is to be understood that, working at home with so many obstacles, concentration, motivation and productivity become even more challenging.

Even more, having to find explanations for what is, so far, inexplicable: the moment of the coronavirus circulating on a global scale and the impediments they cause in the development so rooted in the habits of the children – and the deadlines of the work echoing in the countenance of the children. country.

The 5 tips for those who are working at home

We don't have to live with anxiety and fear, however. Despite so much worrying data, good practices can be gradually implemented in your routine, ensuring that good fruits are harvested over time.

And, next, we will share with you each one of them!

1. Establish an exclusive place to work

Opt, preferably, for a place where there are doors, and limits can be established during your working hours. This helps to build a habit that the area in question is your office and that interruptions should only occur in circumstances previously agreed with the children.

2. Set up a routine

Nothing better than recovering the feeling of control. So, set times, make the whole family follow them, and thus a routine is established.

Through it, it is easy to demand that children study, play and stay in harmony with their own schedules. Preferably, try resuming the hours everyone was used to before the pandemic started. However, it is worth taking some considerations into account:

  • children's programming;
  • the daily menu (tip: set up a weekly repertoire so as not to waste so much time preparing and planning meals);
  • the division of domestic tasks and the respective schedules. Thus, no one is overwhelmed;
  • how your work schedule will be.

A little bit of science of what the day will be like can make all the difference for those who are working at home. Try it!

3. Recover pre-pandemic activities with adjustments

Do children miss their friends? Make virtual meetings via videoconference. Sedentary lifestyle is taking over the family: Try to set up a calendar of activities for them to exercise while playing.

Remembering that the same goes for parents, since work and leisure have to be shared in the same physical space throughout the day.

Not to mention that this resumption of fun can help reduce high levels of anxiety, sadness and stress.

4. Know when to slow down

Do not try to do everything, nor do you try to do everything at the same time. With good control and routine planning, it is possible to identify the moment when burnout (physical and / or mental) knocks on the door. That's why, monitor your schedules and find out what your limits are.

It is important to do this even to share homework assignments, talk to your superiors if the workload is exceeding normal levels and also ask for help (either with a task, with co-workers, or with family members living with you). in the same house for household chores.

5. Talk to your superiors

Set up a meeting, schedule a conversation and explain what are the challenges and facilities you have faced working from home. This can contribute to an eventual adjustment in your service and, consequently, make the routine more aligned to your characteristics.

The help companies can provide to help fathers and mothers working from home

As we highlighted in the previous topic, a conversation with the company's management can help to minimize the negative effects of this new and so uncertain routine.

However, this approach does not necessarily have to come from employees, but from the organization itself. At this point, the HR sector and the leadership can come together (remotely) to establish some practical solutions to ensure the well-being of all its professionals. Below, we have separated some examples.

Flexibility

Slogan for that moment. It is necessary to analyze what is feasible to carry to the home office, from the face-to-face routine, and what should be reviewed.

This even includes flexible schedules. If a professional performs better at night, it is worth adjusting some points individually so that their tasks are performed during that period in which the professional can find more stillness and tranquility of the household chores to concentrate on the work.

Dialogue

Nothing should be rigid. The dialogue must exist, with a high degree of understanding for the work to be done, but with malleability to understand the reality of each one working at home.

After all, it is undeniable that the routine of each family is exclusive. There is no point in charging exactly the same things to different people in such a turbulent context. Hence, the company must open itself to dialogue to identify unique solutions for each challenge in the path of its employees.

Specialized assistance

Consultations with specialized professionals (such as psychologists and / or nutritionists, among others) can give your professionals more well-being.

Including, with regard to finances. Actions of financial well-being they can help employees to have more discipline and, thus, avoid the accumulation of debts in this period.

Because the impact of defaults and rates and interest can have serious effects not only on the productivity of employees, but on their motivation and engagement with chores and also with the care of children.

Companies that helped during social isolation

In addition, it is worth knowing and getting inspired by some actions that organizations have undertaken for their employees working at home. For example:

  • Natura offered 40 days paid paternity leave – something that, added to the vacation period, can reach 70 days of rest to help at home;
  • Netflix offers up to one year leave in the event of the birth of a child;
  • Google also offers paternity leave, and also reimburses costs for home services during the first three months of the family's newborn life;
  • Grupo Boticário is also concerned with maternity and child education assistance (which means support in the purchase of school supplies;
  • Dell, which already has just over 20% of its staff working from home, offers a extra help to cover expenses, such as internet expenses, and also to set up a good home office in the home.

It is worth mentioning that there are still other ways to make the new routine working at home even more productive. And we are always on the lookout for news on this subject. So, if you don't want to miss any of our tips, subscribe to our newsletter – just fill in your email address at home of our blog – and receive HR Consultant UK items first hand!

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