Tips to work life balance

I returned to work in 2021 December. Before that, I was a stay at home mom on maternity leave. My daughter now goes to daycare, and I have returned to the work force. This work place is drastically different from when I left it April 2020.

The biggest difference was the adjustment to working from home. The rules and regulations around return to premise have been fluctuating with the severity of covid. The current trend is that we are returning to a new normal, but this is open to changes depending on pandemic’s direction.

Most countries have been slowly opening their economy and “returning to normal”. Many firms have requested their employees to return to work from the office. I don’t quite necessarily know what the future of work from home is going to look like. Currently, I have established a routine to work from home. How it helps me to be most efficient and productive.

I have composed some pros and cons of working from home for me.

I am speaking from my own experience and my work requirements. Everyone’s situation is different:

Pros:

1. Housework gets done

• Laundry/ cooked meal

• Being able to send my kids off to school is important to me. They go off to school in the morning and return home late in the afternoon daily. I only get to see them couple hours a day. Breakfast time in the morning is dear to me. I get to send them out the door. This reminds me of precious memories with my own mom.

• Being able multitask while I am at home is able to save me time to spend my energy and focus on my children at the end of the day. I can get lion’s share of the house work done before they come home

2. Flexibility

• My actual work hour is 7 to 3, but because I work form home, I have the flexibility to start earlier before everyone is awake. And take an hour away from work to focus on getting my children dressed, fed and ready for school. Once they are out the door, I can return to work immediately. It makes me present in their lives Even if just couple moments here and there.

• Flexibility also in a sense that when one of my children has a pro-d day, sick day, or vacation, I can be home with them

3. No commute time!

• I used to commute 45 minutes daily each way to work. That adds up to an hour and half each day, 7 ½ hour for each week on commute. By working from home, I can save 7 hours a week and be “at work “on the dot

• This also works in my favour on bad weather days. When it snows in the city, people on the road don’t know how to drive. The public transit is no better on those days.

• No commute means no money spent on gas – with where gas prices are today. it’s safe to say we would like to avoid the pump

4. Freedom/ privacy speaking to client

• This goes for anyone working in a cubicle/shared space setting. I am an introvert by heart. I like my personal space and I feel more relaxed and comfortable when no one is around me

• When I am talking to clients it also protects their privacy because I am not speaking while 4 other people are also near me

5. Snacks

• Snacks are available to me all day. Within reach

Cons:

1. Being home

• This one is oxymoron.

• Groceries runs - This is more of an inconvenience than anything. I used to do grocery runs during lunch break at work. Now that I’m not going to work on a daily basis, I need to carve out time on the weekends to restock my fridge.

• c. No more eating out – I used to frequent restaurants nearby work from time to time, now that I work from home I make it myself. Although it saves money, I still liked enjoying a meal eating out alone.

2. Accessibility

• Sometimes you just have to do something in the office (submitting a paper). And working from home doesn’t allow such accessibility to your management or coworkers. It is different from just asking a quick verbal question than sending an e-mail.

3. Professional and home life clash

• Not being able to block off professional life at home. Sometimes when I am on the phone with clients, it is impossible to barricade my toddler from intruding in my conversation. She is a toddler. She does what she wants.

• No defined boundary between work/off work. You are expected more even on weekends

4. Socialization

• coworkers (socialization). Or the lack of. Organization culture is that you make small talks, you make friendly co-workers. Healthy socializing. But with working from home, your co-worker is now your other family members. This can be a pro or con, it really depends on how much you like your co-workers at the office.

5. Distractions/procrastination

• a. This point doesn’t affect much to me, but I know few of my friends prefer to be in the office because of this reason

6. Too much snacks

• Snacks are available to me all day. Within reach

I realize that I am very fortunate to have the flexibility to work from home and am grateful for it. However, balancing my family and professional life was already difficult when I was working from the office. Now that I am working from home, I need to set clear boundaries between my various responsibilities for better mental health.