Working From Home When You’re Not Alone

March 30, 2020


Working from home can be tough to get used to.

There are a lot of distractionsOpens a new window , from the latest video on YouTube to that pile of laundry you’ve been meaning to load.

It’s tough to maintain a professional attitude to your work when it takes place at the spot you most likely associate with relaxing, and being separated from coworkers can be a hit on moraleOpens a new window .

But of all the ways working from home requires adjustment, there are probably none as surprising as the need to share the space with family members or roommates.

Over the past week, as more and more office workers begin to log in from home in order to slow the spread of the coronavirusOpens a new window , people have been weighing in on social media about the unexpected frustrations and challenges of sharing a working space with a spouse or other close co-inhabitant.

Some are approaching the situation with humor, expressing mock horror, for example, at hearing their romantic partner use corporate cliches while on conference calls.

But working in close quarters with someone who is not a coworker does place a strain both on working life and private life. It’s tough to see someone who normally belongs in one sphere barging in on the otherOpens a new window .

No one knows how long this new remote working reality might last. So, it’s best for your sanity to lay down some ground rules at the start to help everyone in the house cope and hopefully remain as productive as possible while staying healthy.

Calls are crucial

It’s critical to provide as much space as possible when someone is on a conference call or interview, or if they’re just checking in with someone at work. Making signs to put on doors that indicate when someone inside is on a call can be a good way of protecting privacy.

If there isn’t enough room in the house for everyone to have a separate work space, try designating a “call room” where calls can take place without interruption.

Hearing someone else on a call can be just as grating as having the feeling you’re being listened to by someone who isn’t a coworker.

Share meals

Creating time to share meals together can be effective for ensuring scheduled social time with other people in the house — which, in turn, makes it easier to enforce non-social time when you need to focus.

Rotating meal prep can also lift the burden of having to prepare meals, which is something a lot more people are doing these days as they spend more  time at home.

Don’t complain

During normal working conditions, you probably come home and unload on the person you live with about the frustrating situations you encountered at work that day. So it might seem normal to talk to them whenever a coworker is making you feel exasperated or a project isn’t working out the way you wanted or expected.

This is a surefire way to create strain in the house, because no matter how much someone wants to be there for you, they aren’t going to have that bandwidth as they’re trying to focus on their own work.

You’ll also be surprised how many small annoyances don’t actually make the cut for the end-of-the-day unload and by bringing them up, you might end up blowing them out of proportion.

In other words, save it for dinner.

A final bonus tip

Three words: Noise-cancelling headphones. You can thank me later.

Ethan Schrieberg
Ethan at VitalBriefing is a UK-based content specialist writing, editing and creating content in multiple formats in news (print, digital and television), media, corporate communications, marketing and HR. With experience in internal and external communications and content production for various media and business intelligence companies, he covers a range of business strategy topics within the HR and marketing sectors, such as IT careers and learning, and virtual reality and augmented reality in a business context.
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