Trisha Brandon, partner for content, explains how borrowing office habits has helped to create more valuable family time.
At Zone we’ve had flexible working for years, so the first week of optional social distancing felt familiar. In our small Brighton house, I co-existed with my husband and adult daughter during the workday. It was fine, but became increasingly tedious asking them to turn down blaring music when I had video calls, or my daughter asking what we were having for lunch or dinner. It was a delicate dance where we bumped into each other regularly, but held it together — just.
When week 2 was looming with tighter restrictions, though, I was concerned about frayed nerves and being able to enjoy each other’s company in the evenings. So I decided to test out a routine from work in our home life — and it has worked brilliantly.
Every day at 9am, we have a family stand-up. On our agenda: each person’s plans for the day, what support we need, what blockers there are, what we’re doing for lunch and thoughts on dinner.
This gives us space to discuss often mundane things that cause friction, align on who does what, which tasks get prioritised and so on. It also gives me a chance to ask for support and say when my video meetings are, so they know to be quiet.
Family stand-ups have given me permission to say what I need in a neutral way, such as dividing and conquering the collective to-do list, rather than me getting to the edge of my temper before asking for help. It lets me be the delivery lead of my household.
But it got me thinking — what other office habits can we borrow to ease the new working-from-home reality we’re facing? Answers in the comments please!
Read more from our #ZoneWorksFromHome series:
