New to working at home? Try to be realistic — and give yourself a break

Workers across Newfoundland and Labrador are cleaning off their desks, plugging in their laptops, and settling into a new workspace — at home.

With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Dwight Ball both telling the public to stay home as much as possible, families in the province are entering a new reality, where work life and home life have combined.

"I think we all got a taste of it during snow days and Snowmageddon and that sort of thing," said Karla Hayward, who works in public relations.

"I guess the difference now is it's not trying to cope for one to two days, it's more like, 'OK, so this is our new reality.'" 

Hayward is working at home, juggling the needs of her job and her five-year-old child. With schools across the province closed to slow the spread of COVID-19, children are also often stuck at home with their working parents.

Hayward said that means you just can't pretend you are still in your workplace, even if you want to.

"At five, they don't have a particularly long attention span, obviously, so kind of, every 20 minutes or so we have to be finding a new task or doing something different," she said.

"With a small kid, you're still doing things like making lunch, getting snacks, helping out with whatever they need, getting milk out of the fridge, all those little things."

Alicia Murphy's children are older, 11 and 13, but she said she still finds herself getting pulled away.

"As much as you tell them, 'I'm here, but pretend I'm not here,' they still like to ask questions and every now and then they're getting into arguments and whatnot," she said.

Murphy works with ClearRisk, a company that makes risk management software in St. John's. She said she's always had the ability to work from home, but never did it all that much.

She's preparing herself to be much more tired at the end of the day.

"It's much more hectic. It takes a lot longer sometimes to get things done, because you are sorta juggling between working and then also playing the mother role as well, and trying to make sure kids are fed."

Tips and tricks

The women take different approaches to how you should try to blend your work and your home.

Murphy said she's trying to resist the temptation to blend housework with office work.

"Don't try to get some dishes in between or try to get some laundry done in between. It makes things very hectic and it takes away from the productivity," she said.

And at the end of the day? Close the laptop, and disconnect.

Hayward, though, advises giving yourself a break and managing expectations.

"Most of the advice … that's kind of getting out there right now, blogs about how to be productive at home and whatnot, doesn't really apply that well to people with small kids," she said.  "And there's probably lots of other situations it doesn't apply well to as well.

"Sit down and work for two hours straight with no distractions so that you can be very productive? That's not happening."

Hayward is trying to break up her day between family time, with her child, and work time — even if it means scheduling her day in chunks.

"We have to be very flexible, and we have to be realistic with ourselves about what we can accomplish." 

Kids stuck home, too

It's not just schools that are closed; most after-school programs and sports programs are suspended as well.

That means parents are having to fill even more time.

"Up until yesterday or the day before or last weekend, we were taxis," said Jennifer Tompkins, a mom of two in Gander. "And now we're right back to when they were babies, with keeping things going.

"This week it's going to be a week of figuring out how things are going to work. And then we're going to tweak it and we'll probably make mistakes and we're going to fix those mistakes."

Between his Double AA, high school and house league hockey, 13-year-old Simon Tompkins plays just about every day. Or, he did, before it was all suspended.

On Tuesday, he spent his morning playing virtual basketball on his Xbox, gaming and talking to his friends on the phone.

"I get to play with my friends a lot. A lot of my friends play this game," added Oliver Tompkins, 11, who was playing the same game on a different television.

Their mom was thankful for what they could get, at least on Day 1.

"They have to stay away from as many people as possible right now. So, I don't know, thank you, Xbox, and thank you, PlayStation, maybe?" said Jennifer Tompkins. "I know it's not the right answer, but they are actually socially interacting with their friends."

Tompkins works on a shift-work schedule, which means she isn't a stranger to staying home with the kids. This week, though, her partner joined her and set up an office in the front foyer.

It is a change, but it's one that allows them to spend more time together, and Tompkins is thankful for that much.

For her part, Murphy is focused on the bigger picture. She said working at home is helping with the social distancing required to slow the spread of COVID-19.

"I know that I'm helping out, so if it is for the long haul, at least it's for the better."

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