Working from home - Heaven or Hell?

How the world has changed in twelve months. I vividly remember the first time I was able to work from home. It felt like such a treat for so many reasons. Did the TV go on in between calls? I hold my hands up, yes it did. Lunch was eaten outside in the garden whilst soaking up a bit of sun. Those parcels that needed to be taken to the Post Office were finally sorted. An end of day conference call that required no input resulted in tea being started and ready for bang on 5.30. Don't get me wrong, I did work pretty hard too. I genuinely saw it as a privilege. After tea, the laptop was switched back on as I didn't feel as tired with the usual two or three hours driving during the day. One key thing was different on that day versus today where I logged in at 7am and will log off around 11pm. That thing is KIDS.

We love our kids (don't pretend you don't!) and every minute with them is precious. However, having them at home when both you and your partner are working is challenging - and that choice of description is calmer one than if I had written this 4 hours ago whilst battling to get today's English exercise finished. I need to state the point that I have a HUGE amount of sympathy for our children who are missing out on so much by not being able to attend school. The impact on them cannot be underestimated, ignored or overshadowed by our frustrations at parents. But it is tough. Really tough.

Transitioning a large majority of the UK workforce to working from home has resulted in some unhealthy by-products. It is easy to underestimate the impact not being able to walk over to a colleagues desk, bump into them at the coffee machine or have a working lunch in the canteen has had. So much was discussed, agreed and achieved in those informal and impromptu meetings. On the flip side of that, if people didn't want to be available for that kind of meeting - they simply put on some headphones or left their desk for a period of time.

Working from home often leaves people feeling like they need to justify their importance and contribution for every minute of the working day and night. They don't want to be unavailable in case suspicions are raised about their work ethic and rumours are started about them having their feet up watching GBBO on catch up with a brew. This results in every single call being answered, every invite to a Teams meeting being accepted with really evaluating if they can add enough value to justify their time, every minute of the day spent in front of their laptop and showing as available. Meetings will take longer because more people are involved and all want their voice to be heard.

Whilst all this is going on, those that have children in the house are feeling ever growing guilt at not being able to properly help them and then getting frustrated at hearing them immediately log back onto Fortnite. I repeat, its tough. Really tough.

I write all this in the first person, all real experiences. But I also write it after making some choices and changes to help both my mindset and more importantly, support the future generation that lives under the same roof. Here are a few bits of advice and guidance that I want to share - even if you only try one of them, hopefully it will mean working from home starts to feel like a treat again rather than torture.

• Book one meeting a day with yourself for at least 45 minutes. At the beginning of the day decide how you will use that time. Label it as self development and create a list of topics you want to be better at/learn more about/practice. It can even be to simply think about situations that have occurred that you want to spend some time reviewing and evaluating.
• If you have children, sit with them whilst you work. Set clear instructions that empower them to be accountable for what they need to achieve. Do this by spending 30 minutes talking through the exercises they need to complete that day and checking understanding. By sitting with them, they will see you focused on getting your work done but also stopping them feeling alone. Make them aware of what a good working environment is. Once an exercise is done, at the first opportunity run through it with them and COACH them around any mistakes. They will appreciate the engagement.
• Be ruthless when evaluating whether a call or meeting is necessary. Ask yourself if you are truly going to add value or are attending to look busy. If you think you will add value, review at the end of the call whether you did. If not, understand why and use that learning in the next evaluation you make of whether you will accept an invitation.
• Make sure you step away from your laptop and move around for at least one hour through the course of the day. Set yourself some minor tasks to achieve that are unrelated to work. Achieving these are as important as your to do list for work - simply because by achieving them you will feel fresher and more motivated returning to your laptop.
• Value the time that you aren't working. Even more so than usual. Everyone is feeling the strain of the world we currently live in. Each person close to you needs that extra bit of time, love and reassurance - whether they tell you or not. Be present, be kind and be thoughtful.

That's it for tonight - I will make sure I give this a re-read tomorrow morning and try my very best to practice what I am preaching. I'm really keen to hear your tips/tricks/methods of coping with the change working from home has brought to your life. Feel free to share in the comments.

Never forget though - these are tough times, be kind to yourself as a priority followed closely by being kind to others too.