3 Things COVID-19 Has Taught Working Parents About Work-Life Balance

Since the lockdown, working parents have been streeeeeeetched. For those of us having to work remotely with kids in the mix and no option but to stay home, it’s been a rough ride. 

We have gone from shock and disbelief to panic and worry about how this situation could be remotely possible to manage. Life was enough of a juggling act before, right?

As the weeks go by, new challenges seem to emerge.

Whether you’ve been highly organised with a rigid schedule for your weeks at home, taking it day by day,  or even bouncing from one strategy to the other, it seems every day of working / parenting / homeschooling is different. 

One thing I think we can all agree on is that we have changed, and life after lockdown won’t be the same as it was before. 

Let’s look for the silver linings. Challenging as it has been, lockdown has taught us many things about ourselves, our children, remote working, work-life balance, and much more.

Following many conversations with working parents through webinars and our work with Thriving Talent, here are our top three observations about what we’ve learned as a collective during this period. 

1. You can do anything, but you can’t do it all

When lockdown first started, we were in attack mode. We knew we had no choice but to get through it, so we employed all the strategies in our arsenal to make it work. 

Some of us made daily schedules and planned activities ahead of time. Some of us even had ideas of decorating the house, finishing a side project, doing an online course, making the kids a tree-house, the list goes on. 

Remember this?

Perhaps a strict schedule worked for you and if so, brilliant. But I’m sure you’ll agree that as the weeks went on, it got more difficult to stick to our plans and we still haven’t completed most of the things on our lists. 

I’m sure if we were in lockdown alone without children, things would be very different. It’s hard to watch friends without (and sometimes even with) children on social media doing super creative things and smashing their schedules while we’re just about managing the minimum. 

This is what we have all hopefully learned from this experience... 

Just getting through the day having completed the minimum amount of work we had to do and with the children fed and cared for is a huge achievement. Social media shows you the highlights, not the lows. As working parents, we are already superheroes.

2. An equal division of roles in the home between parents is better for everyone

Lockdown has shone a bright, glaring light on any inequalities within the parental unit for couples quarantined at home with their children - especially if they’ve both been remote working. 

For a long time, we have been battling stereotypes when it comes to male and female roles at work and in the home. Parents being quarantined together with equal responsibilities for the children, home, and their work commitments, has had a positive effect on promoting understanding. 

We think Etienne Gossart at Coca-Cola sums it up pretty well. 

We’ve heard success stories from parents who have split each day between them. For instance, spending 4 hours each for solo work while the other takes care of the children, then enjoying 2 hours as a family in the middle of the day. 

We’ve also seen Working Dads casually breaking down stereotypes online and normalising the reality of fathers working and caring. Here’s a great example of this, from IFTTT CEO, Linden Tibbets.

3. Setting boundaries is crucial and so is communicating them

When we were suddenly all in each other’s space at home, we realised pretty quickly that we need boundaries. If you previously worked at your kitchen table, I’m willing to bet this was no longer ideal with a full house. 

Home and work can blur together at the best of times, so having your own physical private space to work helps keep you focussed and communicates to the rest of your family that you are not available. 

But physical boundaries are not enough. Communication enforces them. Saying to your children “Mum/Dad is working when they are in the office” helps them understand that even though you are in the house, you’re not to be disturbed. 

Setting expectations helps too. Communicating the hours you will be working (and more importantly for them - when you will be free again) is a useful way to help them accept your absence. 

Here’s how our colleague at Thriving Talent, Deborah Croft, communicated to her girls that she was not to be interrupted while hosting a live webinar. 

Do these three things resonate with you as a working parent and do you have anything to add? We would love to hear from you! Let us know on LinkedIn, Facebook, or email me at [email protected].