Work at Home Challenges
5 Tips For Setting Boundaries While Working at Home
Mothers who are employed but work at home face unique challenges to getting things accomplished professionally and personally.
Every work environment has its upsides and downsides. One of the perks of many work at home mothers is being able to get their young children up from naps every day. That’s also one of the drawbacks because as soon as they are awake, they are torn between the desire to focus on working or parenting.
The work-at-home movement is gaining momentum among parents, whether via telecommuting, freelance consulting, or combining an office job with work-at-home tasks. Employers increasingly acknowledge the benefits of allowing flexible work schedules in the retention of valuable employees and heightened work-life balances. Work-at-home-moms even have their own acronym: WAHM. But as every work-at-home parent knows, life is not all cupcakes and progress reports.
Whether considering the work-at-home life or already in it, it’s important to think through a few key issues. Here are a few of them, with tips for how to make it work.
Personality. Does the daily water cooler conversation get your juices flowing and do you need to bounce ideas off of others? Or do you prefer to work on projects solo and confer with the group on a more limited basis? Working at home can sometimes feel extremely isolated as your day-to-day interactions are with little people about topics important to them, not with co-workers about ongoing project developments.
Tip: To avoid this, make an extra effort to have contact with your employer and co-workers, either through regularly scheduled meetings or informal lunches. Adult conversation that keeps you engaged in the world and your work environment will help you to feel in touch.
Boundaries. No matter what the work avenue, every parent feels the pinch of boundaries between work and home. The work-at-home parent is especially affected. Set guidelines with yourself about when you are being a “worker” and when you are being a “parent.”
Tip: The best method to do this is by officially creating a pattern (i.e. “I work every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.” or “If my office door is closed, I am working.”). This separation helps you, your children, and any other outside forces differentiate when you are at “work” and when you are at “home.”
Childcare. One of the biggest benefits of working at home is the additional time to spend with your children. This said, getting a significant amount of work done when children are around is next to impossible. Working during naps is great in theory, and can happen a lot of the time, but the day you have a big project due is almost guaranteed to be the day that your child decides to forego a nap.
Tip: While you might not need to send your children to daycare, it is essential to have reliable and regularly scheduled childcare. Hire a babysitter, make a child care trade with a friend, or have a family member take care of the children. Regularly scheduled childcare is important for credibility with your employer that you are available and working, and also for your own ability to accomplish your tasks.
Household chores. Being at home invites the desire to take care of household chores, and possibly the expectation that it will be done. However, work-at-home parents need to remind their spouses (and themselves!) that just because they are home, doesn’t mean you can do all of the chores, errands, meals, etc. Working still needs time and concentration, and all of these other tasks need to continue to be shared.
Tip: Set a schedule that works for your family, whether it’s cleaning one room each day, cleaning 10 minutes every day, or doing it all one day a week. Same goes for errands and cooking.
You Time. Work-at-home parents are especially torn by responsibilities as the line between home and work is blurred to the point of near invisibility. It’s easy to get sucked into thinking about work all of the time because it’s right there, which makes it that much more important to set aside “you time” to do something you enjoy, whether it’s read a book, play a game of basketball, or watch a movie with a friend.
Tip: Schedule weekly, or even daily, time for you until it is a part of your regular routine. Schedule a walking date, turn off the computer after 9 p.m., or make a nail appointment. Whatever makes you take the time for yourself to recharge. Time is valuable, but so is your state of mind, so be sure to take care of yourself and not just the house, kids, and job.
Working at home is a wonderful opportunity. With a little bit of juggling, and effort to create a distinct “working” mindset, parents can have the best of both worlds.
