Workforce adapting to the reality of working from home
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WORKING from home is nothing new for Aoife Caulfield, she’s been doing it for the past three years. However, like so many, she has had to make several adjustments to her worklife in the wake of the lockdown.
‘I opened my business, Caulfield Financial Ltd, three years ago so I’m used to working from home, but it’s different now because there’s other people here,’ says Aoife.
Those other people are husband James and daughters Isabella (13) and Lucy (12).
‘The girls both get sent homework every day. Isabella is in the Loreto and receives 13 emails, one from each teacher, whereas Lucy is in Sixth Class so she receives just one longer email from her teacher.
‘But it’s hard for them, they don’t know when they’re going to see their friends again. And in Lucy’s case, I’m assuming this is the end of Sixth Class and they won’t go back,’ Aoife says.
The mornings in the Caulfield household are spent working, with Aoife catching up on important emails and phone calls in her home office while the girls studiously complete the work sent out by their teachers.
‘I think working from home is about having the discipline and the self-motivation to do it. But it’s important to do things like break for coffee at 10.30 a.m. I do that with my family now,’ Aoife says.
‘Some people might be glad to work from home all the time, it would help with the school run, childminding and things like that. But on the flipside it can be isolating. It’s about finding a balance, the mental health of workers is the most important thing.’
Key to good mental health is exercising and Aoife makes sure she and the rest of the family get outdoors at some point during the day, whether to the back garden or for a walk in their immediate environs.
And come the evening time, when everyone has put their laptops away and it’s time to relax, the Caulfields have took to engaging in a bit of friendly family rivalry.
‘We’ve started a Come Dine With Me competition,’ laughs Aoife. ‘We all have an evening where we have to prepare and cook a meal and the winner at the end of the week gets to choose which takeaway we’ll have at the weekend.’
Natasha Dunne
AS a single parent who has been working from home for the past six weeks, Natasha Dunne says ‘mammy guilt’ has become part of her everyday life.
In her role in Business Development at Chevron Training and Recruitment, Natasha’s workload has increased since everyone became confined to their homes, leading to plenty of hectic days in her new makeshift office.
‘My workload has increased dramatically, I’m working a lot more hours, right through the day and sometimes into the night,’ she says.
‘The reason we’re so busy is because we’re trying to bring all the courses forward. People are doing anything to keep busy at the moment so we’re inundated with calls.’
And with her seven-year-old son, Aaron, also at home it’s become a balancing act for Natasha.
‘I’m managing pretty well, I have to fit in the schoolwork during the day too. I set out work for Aaron each night and he goes through that the following morning,’ she says.
‘But there are times when I’m busy and I end up having to leave him on the PlayStation or watching television, that tends to lead to a lot of “mammy guilt” on my part.’
Yet there are benefits, Natasha and Aaron take regular walks each day at lunchtime, valuable time together which they might otherwise not have had.
In addition, Natasha no longer has a daily commute.
‘In future if I could do something like two days at home it would allow for a better work/ life balance,’ Natasha says. ‘That would mean I wouldn’t have to go in and out of Wexford town from Fethard every day.
‘I could collect Aaron from school, he wouldn’t need to be in the creche every afternoon.’
Like many of us though, Natasha says she does miss the office environment, the daily interactions which we have taken for granted for so long.
‘I do miss the office and the banter with everyone, but in terms of the nature of my work it’s mostly over the phone or online so it hasn’t changed in that regard.’
Marian Donegan
HAVING worked with community groups for over 20 years the prospect of suddenly shutting herself off from the world was a daunting one for Marian Donegan.
‘After I said farewell to everyone and turned the key in the doors to our projects in Green Street and Westgate, it was a very lonesome feeling,’ admits Marian who is the Project Co-ordinator with ACCESS/NCCWN Wexford.
And having transported all the necessary equipment and documentation to her home, the first big decision for Marian was where to set up her new workstation.
‘I eventually decided on the playroom, where my children and now my grandchildren play. It’s filled with colourful books, a toy train, a bright red fire engine and a selection of dolls with their eyes peeping straight up at me and of course the traditional dolls house,’ Marian laughs.
Sticking resolutely to her routine, Marian has been getting up early, having her breakfast, getting dressed, adopting a positive attitude despite the circumstances.
With the help of I.T. wizard, Dagmar, all those new forms of technology we’ve read so much about were set up and prepped, ready for use. And although Zoom meetings and WhatsApp chats have proved a vital source of communication throughout the past six weeks, Marian says she has ‘hit the wall’ in recent days.
‘Throughout these past few weeks, I have experienced what I can only describe as “hitting the wall”. I miss the knock on my office door offering me a cup of tea with homemade cake, the compliment on what I was wearing, the banter that goes on between groups of women, the stories from young people on their nights out and their taste in music,’ she says.
‘Zoom Meetings and WhatsApp cannot give you the sense of what someone is feeling, are they happy, sad, confused, you certainly cannot give them a hug or comfort them through a computer screen.’
There have been some positives though, the solitude and stillness leading to moments of reflection.
‘Slowing down has enabled me to observe some things I can do better if I just take some time to think. I have also discovered that a job that is critical to finish today can actually be finished tomorrow with greater clarity, sometimes speed can be the enemy of creativity.
‘Looking to the future, it’s going to be a very different environment for us all, while the distance between us will be bigger and more confined; I can only hope that this experience will bring us all closer together.’
David Kenna
WITH his partner already working from home, and space at a premium in their relatively small house, David Kenna was forced to set up his office in what he calls ‘the wardrobe’.
‘It’s our second bedroom, it was the only room left,’ David laughs. ‘My partner is also working from home, he’s a bit more used to it as he works from home two days a week normally. It hasn’t been too bad, we have a small house so we’re used to being in each other’s pockets anyway.’
Once it became apparent he would be working from home, David, who is a Support Executive at Bricks 4 Kidz, was determined to make sure his new office would contain as much stuff from the old one as possible
‘When I’m in the office I work from two screens on a desktop computer. When we were leaving I brought the whole lot home with me, the screens, the computer, even the chair,’ he says.
Something else which David has brought home is a sense of structure, a self-discipline which he believes is integral for those adapting to their new work environments.
‘I’ve been keeping to my routine, I start at the same time, have my coffee when I normally would, my lunch, I get dressed properly. I’m quite a structured person anyway. And because I work with a lot of other people I have to keep on top of things, that keeps me motivated,’ he says.
The one thing he hasn’t been able to replicate though is the atmosphere of a busy workplace.
‘I would have been in an open plan office so there was a lot of interaction on a daily basis. And I am missing that environment, I’m a very social person.’
‘Myself and two of my colleagues in work would usually spend our lunches together, go for a walk along the quay, go into the shops. I definitely miss that aspect. And things like the catch up at 10.30 a.m. or 3.30 a.m. when everyone is having their tea or coffee.’
And although David has been using Zoom for both work and pleasure, having Friday night drinks with friends or quizzes with family members, he says there have been times when this change in circumstances has taken its toll.
‘There was a definite novelty to it at the beginning but its become a rollercoaster as it’s gone on. There was one weekend recently that I found quite tough, I almost couldn’t wait for the Monday to come.
‘We’re getting all the DIY jobs done, mowing the lawn, but there’s only so much of that you can do. We live in a quite rural area so we’re in a bubble in a lot of ways, it’s about keeping up the interaction with the outside world at the moment.’
Ronan Furlong
THERE are at least three people in the Furlong household who are benefitting from the current restrictions. Aged 12, 14 and 17, Ronan Furlong’s children are seeing a lot more of their father at the moment and they are putting this time to good use.
‘Because I’m driving less I’m finished for the day by 6.30 p.m. and now I can play football with the kids in the back garden in the evening,’ says Ronan who is a tax partner at PriceWaterCoopers.
‘Usually I’d be commuting from Kilkenny, from Dublin, Waterford, Cork, I might only be in Wexford a couple of nights a week. I don’t miss the travelling and I’ll definitely do less of it in the future.’
‘This has made me reflect on how much travel I need to do and made me wonder if, moving forward, we could do more virtual meetings. It will never replace the one-to-one interactions but there certainly is a place for it in the workplace.’
And although he and his colleagues had some initial concerns about working remotely, Ronan says he has adapted well to his new work environment in the family home.
‘From my perspective it’s gone really well. The broadband infrastructure has held up really well, we’re doing zoom calls or google hangouts, there’s been no change in efficiency.
‘We were worried about getting signatures on documents, but we’ve been able to get digital signatures.’
However, he is mindful that it hasn’t been plain sailing for everyone and that those with younger
MY CHILDREN ARE FIGHTING FOR MY ATTENTION ALL THE TIME, ALL THEY SEE IS THAT I’M AT HOME, THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY WE CAN’T GO OUT
children have faced some unique challenges.
‘The people I do feel sorry for are those with small kids, ours are 12, 14, 17, and are mostly able to look after themselves. The two boys go to St Peter’s, my daughter is in the Gaelscoil. They’re all getting loads done,’ Ronan says.
‘But I know a lot of my colleagues have younger kids, and they’ve been trying to implement rota systems, taking turns to look after the children while still trying to work. And that’s tough for people, it’s mentally draining.’
While no-one knows how long this situation will last, how long it will be before those eerily silent offices are brought back to life, Ronan believes the lockdown has given many employers food for thought.
‘Because this working from home situation has gone so well a lot of employers will be rethinking things, wondering if, for example, they need all that office space.
‘And I’d be surprised if my own bosses don’t decide to encourage people to work from home more often. I’d like to keep doing it, for maybe one day a week anyway.’
Annette Soraine
WHEREAS some people are finding working from home more difficult with each passing day for Annette Soraine it’s been the other way around.
‘I found that the first few weeks were harder and that it’s got easier as I’ve gone along. I’ve somehow acclimatised to it, or maybe it’s like Stockholm Syndrome,’ she laughs.
Chief Commercial Officer at Innovate, Annette’s work involves spreadsheets, having multiple documents on the go at any given time. And because of this she needed to transport a lot of equipment to her home when the lockdown begun.
Now stationed at the kitchen table she makes sure that come Friday evenings a semblance of normality returns to the house she shares with son, Finn (12).
‘I’m working from the kitchen table, it was the easiest place to set up because of all the screens. But at the weekend I take everything off the table, clear it away, I think it’s important to do that, to switch off. Otherwise it’s always there,’ she says.
And although Finn, who Annette describes as ‘fairly self-guided’, is keeping engaged with his teachers, using Google classroom, working on a project about the Triassic Period, there is time for play during his day.
‘He’s missing his sports, he’s big into soccer and rugby,’ says Annette. ‘He’s part of the Rotherham development squad, and he’s getting soccer skills classes from Derby County online.
‘So that’s keeping him active and he’s learning something. He is on the PlayStation sometimes but he’s able to talk to his friends there and that’s important, it’s good he can stay connected with them.’
Annette is staying active too, a homemade gym providing an outlet when she needs a break from those screens.
‘We have a treadmill in the garage, some boxing gloves, weights, so we’d have a session out there some evenings. We go for walks too, the river is nearby and there’s a nice loop inside our 2km. Sometimes at lunch you need to step away for a while and get out of the house.’
But she too is missing the office, and not just the banter and laughs side of things.
‘I love meeting people being out and about, we are communicating, but I really miss the people interaction, the office chat and the coffee. Also I miss making decisions as a team, being able to come together and share ideas.’
Aoife Connick:
WITH three children under the age of five, Aoife Connick’s home life is usually a busy one. But when she was forced to bring her work home, and into a living space which is cramped at the best of times, everything became that little bit more chaotic.
‘I’m working at the kitchen table, and we’re in a mobile home at the moment because we’re saving for a mortgage,’ Aoife explains. ‘Space is tight. I start at 9 a.m. and work through the day, but that includes going up and down to the kids a hundred times to get them stuff or help with something.’
As Acting Manager at Skillnet, Aoife is responsible for the organisation and running of training courses, work which must all now be done online. And with her husband still required to travel to his workplace, only working from home for part of the day, Aoife has her hands full in her new office.
‘My children are fighting for my attention all the time, all they see is that I’m at home, they don’t understand why we can’t go out and do the things we’d usually do when I’m at home,’ she says.
‘Ater we get them to bed at 7 p.m. I go back online and answer emails. It’s tough going but I’m getting my work done.’
Somewhere in between all of that the family do take the time to get out and enjoy some fresh air and avail of some wide-open spaces within their 2km radius.
‘We get out in the afternoons, the school is nearby so we go in there and they run around the pitch. We’re also lucky enough to have three beaches within the 2km,’ Aoife says.
Ultimately though, she says she’s looking forward to the day when she can return to the office, the real one.
I’m looking forward to getting back in the office, to having a cup of tea in peace,’ she says laughing. ‘I miss the social side big time, although we’re only a small team we’re very close, there’s one girl who works there who I was friends with for ten years before we even started working together.’
THE PSYCHOLOGISTS’ VIEW
Tanya Harris and Nicole Kotras are Chartered Clinical Psychologists and co-owners of Think Psychology. They discuss how working from home is impacting on us and how those living alone, and those with children, can improve their wellbeing during the lockdown.
Balancing work and home lives:
Working alone will suit some and not others. We all need a mix of human interaction and solitude. For many, work provides much-needed daily social interaction, which they might lack now. For others, being stuck in a full house means they are not getting enough solitude.
And it can become very easy for work to spill into private time, especially when work time may be being interrupted by parenting responsibilities.
There can be a constant feeling of being busy but not productive, and a consequent frustration and guilt that ‘I’m not doing anything properly’. Because of this, we encourage people to notice their need to ‘escape’ and deliberately set personal limits.
If it is not possible to ‘hide’ your work station, we suggest you stick to a planned routine and ‘put work away’ at a certain time.
What is important to recognise is that all of us are going to experience periods of shut-down, or overload. We don’t have to judge ourselves harshly for that. In fact, we need to kindly and compassionately help ourselves by doing something that is nourishing and calming for us. Take a time out and go back to it when we are restored. We suggest doing this little and often with short, but multiple, time outs.
It’s important to remember that the current situation is not the norm, so our expectations of ourselves and others need to be recalibrated too. The ideal is to kindly do what we can do, and accept that we cannot perform at maximum capacity in vastly altered circumstances.
Parents:
Some have the added stress of trying to parent and work from the same space, while their children have the added stress of trying to do school work from home (while being deprived of the play time with friends they would usually have).
It’s the perfect storm for relationships to be under significant strain. So again, relax the expectations a bit.
It’s about doing what works, including having some routine; allowing children to have a say in what new routine would work for them. Create breaks to recharge. Communicate clearly with all in the home about your own limits and expectations, while hearing their expectations. And finally, expect interruptions.
Guilt is rife amongst parents. It is important for parents to be self-compassionate and kind towards themselves for the position they find themselves in. Parents are under huge strain to ‘do it all’ and to ‘get it right’. In fairness, we need to compromise.
We need to let go of some things and decide what’s really important to us. It’s okay to relax some rules a bit - including being a bit more flexible about screen time - but it is more important than ever to offer children guidance.
Children are subject to the same pre-conditions for developing a trauma response that adults are.
So we can as easily help them by: remaining calm and reassuring; being open and honest with them - age-appropriately sharing facts and not fuelling fears; keeping a flexible routine; getting them physically active for part of the day; being close to them when they need us; managing screen time; finding ways to connect with friends; and spending time doing an activity together at some point in the day.
Discussing the future:
Fortunately, we are a very adaptable species. Just as we are adapting now, we will adapt when things change again. Children of different ages are likely to respond differently, but most will take their cue from how we as adults respond. It is really important to talk things through with children and other family members, to listen to their worries, and also to be able to be calm and positive about the future.
We all cope better when we are prepared for a change. So talking calmly about the pros and cons of how things have changed, as well as the pros and cons of future changes, can help children see that there is always something to look forward to, and something to appreciate in the now. If people are feeling too overwhelmed to talk through things calmly, it may be time to seek assistance.
We are aware that people are inundated with advice about how to cope and what to do during this time.
All the advice can be overwhelming too. Sometimes it leaves people feeling bad that they aren’t ‘doing more to cope’ or aren’t ‘coping better’.
We are all better off doing a few little things that are helpful for us in the day. Mostly, we need to be kind to ourselves about our struggles. We are all more the same than we are different.