How great is working from home? Being able to walk outside in the sunshine on a much needed break between meetings, having fresh air coming through the windows of your home office, hanging your washing on the line at lunch time to dry it in sun, its really wonderful for your mental health! But what happens during winter? When you can’t go on that lunchtime walk or you can’t have your window open because of all the rain and its cold and grey and miserable outside?
In early 2020, the working world changed, potentially forever. We were told we had to work from home if possible and our working hours were filled with Zoom and Teams meetings. Many of us added into this mix responsibilities of caring for children and remote learning pressures. The boundaries and lines between home and work life, truly blurred. We know many working parents worked in shifts, with some working late into the evening to get work done which couldn’t be completed during traditional work hours due to remote learning priorities. We had meetings with children sitting at our feet in order to multitask our way through the juggle. The flexibility offered to manage work and family commitments was life changing in many ways, but let’s explore the costs. Now more than 2 years on, as we move back to a new normal, what impact has there been on the boundaries which should exist between our work and home life?