I started freelancing because I was on maternity leave and baby #2 was, blessedly, a great napper. It ended up being okay because that solved the problem of childcare. Then I was laid off, about two weeks after they shut everything down, with me six months pregnant. You feel like you can't be a great parent and you can't be a great coworker and employee, and you just kind of feel like you can’t win. There were so many nights when I’d be caught up in a conversation with my boss and it's past five o'clock-and so many times that's when the “real work” gets done-and when I’d have to cut that short it’s like, okay, well, is this going to affect that promotion I want? It sucks. And looking back on it, I really don't know how we managed to make that happen particularly when I was pregnant. There would be so many nights when I would text him from the streetcar like, “I'm not going to make it.” Then to get home, to do dinner, bath time, to get him into bed on time-it was just pure, utter chaos.
So every day, as soon as we can possibly sneak out at five o'clock, we were racing to get from downtown over to pick up our kids. Our daycare pickup was six o'clock and you’d pay a dollar for every minute that you were late. The mom of two who used to race to daycare pickupīefore COVID, I was working as a senior content strategist and my husband was working at a big financial company downtown. If anything, remote work has definitively been a catalyst for transformation, and for some, it was a surprisingly positive one. Of course, a new approach to work/life balance is a mere silver lining in an otherwise difficult period, but maybe that’s what has made these changes so meaningful to focus on. In fact, for many, the concept of reorganizing work around life (and not the other way around) has been a revelation.Īccording to these three people, working remotely has made life better (for the most part) for that very reason. Kids and pets eclipsing the frame of video calls is part of life now, and having to leave early or flex your hours to focus on life has been an adjustment most have been more than happy to make for themselves (and each other). For some, it’s had a humanizing effect that’s trickled down past funny meme territory and into entirely new work-life mindsets. Many workers have spent over a year peering more deeply inside the lives of the people they work with than ever expected. You’re probably very familiar with your colleague’s kitchen table office by now, and they’ve seen your laundry hanging up to dry behind you more than once.
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