“I genuinely could not think of anything worse”
“I genuinely could not think of anything worse”
“I go to work to get away from them”
Are these reactions to handling something frightening like spiders?
Nope, these are the typical reactions we get when we say we work with our significant other! In case you didn’t already know, at TEAM PARW we’re husband and wife!
In this newsletter we share 3 top tips on how we make it work, for those who are already in the same boat as us or those who may be considering it (we’re really happy to help/field questions if you are). We’re aware that this situation is quite niche, so also encourage you to apply this advice if you’re amongst the ever increasing number of couples both working from home, be this full or part time, let’s ensure you finish that working day still blissfully in love.
*We’ve added an extension to each tip, in case like us you are working directly with your partner!
Now we have both worked from home for many years so we knew we could do it in theory, the business partner element of course brings a new intensity level to this, but just know if there’s something to get annoyed about, we will probably have been through it! See ‘They think I can mow the lawn if I’m not literally on a video call’ and “No I didn’t take your laptop charger, it doesn’t even fit mine’ for more information…
So, hopefully with our years of experience justifying our ability to give advice, let’s get to our top 3 tips.
1. Be clear on your breaks
Taking breaks is so important. Despite popular belief, working from home is usually far more productive than the office environment. The difficulty is, when do you stop if your work is at home?
Well, we find it best to build an office structure into our home working; have a mid-morning 15 minute break, walk (the dog) at lunch etc. Just making time to get away from the screen/task at hand. Replicate that 9-5 routine as much as you can.
Having this consistent structure also means your partner knows the windows where they can actually ask you a question, which will minimise disturbing you when you’re deep in concentration and needing to focus. If you don’t give them the foresight on what these windows are for you (life doesn’t pause for you to complete that pesky pivot table), then any time of the day becomes fair game to distract you with what your other half wants to discuss.
Extension – If you work together these breaks are for discussions that aren’t work related. If there is something we need to do for the company we will set a meeting and talk about it at that time. Keep these boundaries, otherwise you will lose the balance of home and work life. It’s easier said than done and there will be exceptions – but make sure they are exactly that. Vice versa, we try not to chat ‘work’ outside of business hours!
2. Have separate workstations
This helps us avoid that feeling of being under each other’s feet. We’ve just mentioned setting breaks for general discussions, but even if you’re not on your break levels of concentration will really vary day-to-day depending on various factors, your mood, the task at hand etc. If your partner is on a different wavelength it can be very distracting, one of you might be having a ‘quiet day’ and the other may feel chatty. Even if the separate workstations are just an option and you usually work in the same room that’s fine but at least have that ability to be separate if you’re needing some room.
One comment we’ve had on this separate working is that people who have worked in an office / around others miss the noise, it’s okay we get it too! One helpful link we’ve found is Sound of Colleagues, you can adjust the levels of coffee makers, rain, printers etc. It may help avoid that loneliness that can sometimes creep in. We’ve found this sound also has a weird ability to hypnotise you into focusing!
Extension – We also have separate clients/tasks. Yes there are huge levels of collaboration in our work and apps we utilise to manage tasks, but we DO work separately a lot of the time. We lean on each other for advice or if one of us has a heavier workload there’s a reassignment of work volume, but make sure you have a level of automation built in for delegation of tasks so not everything needs to be discussed to the ‘nth’ degree.
3. Share your Calendars
You’re taking your breaks, you’ve got your separate workstations you’re making this work! We’re proud….then they shout up the stairs asking if you want ‘two rolls or one’ for lunch when you’re mid-pitch to *insert massive opportunity here*. Share your calendars, it’s really easy, it allows your partner to know the map/rhythm of your day and hopefully avoid situations like the above. We suppose it comes down to communication so even if you don’t want to share all that information, start the morning discussing what you each have on your plate and potential times they’ll need to be on Amazon delivery watch (it’s mental how true this is) – it will really help reduce those stressful situations.
Extension – We share calendars outside of work too, with busy lives it avoids double booking and saying yes to things you can’t actually do (especially when kids are involved). Give it a try, hopefully this helps you too.
So those are 3 tips to working from home with some added extensions if like us, you work together. There’s a lot of information to share on this topic so let us know if you have any follow-up questions. If you’ve enjoyed this article, please let us know and feel free to share the link with others it may help!