Whether you’re bouncing a baby on your lap or trying to get your teenager to do their homework, chances are parenting is much harder than the job you actually get paid for. And it’s one you can never clock out of!

Fortunately, remote work has given working parents great benefits. With no commute to the office, parents can spend more time at home doing the important things. We can tuck our little ones in at night and be there for breakfast time. We can make it to soccer games and help with homework. 

But working from home and parenting brings a whole new slate of challenges, too. How do you officially walk away from work at the end of the day? How do you refrain from catching up on late night emails or working over the weekend? And how do you manage work-life-home balance when it all happens in the same space?

There are no easy answers, but there’s plenty you can do to help working parents on your team balance their responsibilities—without losing ground at work.

Helping Parents on Your Remote Team with Work-Life Balance

As companies become more family-centric, some of the biggest names in business are prioritizing working parents during remote work by offering better work-life balance. From paid time off to wellness experiences, offering working parents a support system is important for equitable employee experiences and retaining talent alike.

Supporting working parents makes sense from a business perspective, too. A recent study from Gallup showed that 61% of today’s workforce said that work-life balance is “very important” when it comes to their career. And, if the Great Reshuffle has taught us anything, employees would rather quit than go back to the office full-time.

At Welcome, we know that having the right tools in your tech stack makes work-life balance possible. As an employee event platform, we help you gather your entire team anytime, anywhere. This makes it much easier for everyone—including parents working from home—to feel connected with their team and fulfilled.

5 Tips for Parents Working from Home

Whether you’re trying to balance WFH and childcare or just trying to get your kids in the carpool line on time, these 5 work from home tips and tools will make mom-ing and dad-ing a little easier.

 1.  Set a Work Routine‍

Being a parent and working full-time means you have your morning routine down. Get the kids dressed, pack lunches, make coffee. But having a work routine is just as important for staying successful—and sane. 

Make sure you have a specified space to work from and a certain time you always log off. It’s so easy to work late or log in after hours when your workstation is right down the hall. But remember: overwork always hurts more than it helps. 

If you’re a team leader, encourage your direct reports to set up the boundaries that help them maintain balance, too. Whether they need to finish a full work day before 3 PM pick-up or turn off Slack and email notifications after 6 PM, respecting your team’s needs and communication preferences will ease stress and boost their productivity.

 2.  Be a “People Person”

Just because you don’t leave the house doesn’t mean you should shut yourself away. Collaborating and communicating with your team when you work from home as a parent isn’t just the best way to meet work goals. It’s also the best way to build morale and make you feel fulfilled at your job. ‍

Welcome’s video conferencing can help you transform all-hands or team meetings into engaged, social gatherings. With real-time polling, Q&A features, and live chat, your team will feel more connected than ever—even if they’re working from home.

‍3.  Make Sure You’re Moving‍

And no, walking to the bathroom doesn’t count. Studies show that staying sedentary all day creates serious health risks. So, make sure you’re walking away from your monitor as much as you can throughout the day—even if it’s just to get a few steps in. Harvard Health suggests these simple ways to avoid sitting for too long. This will help your mental health, too!

 4.  Be Authentic

Turn your camera on once in a while. Don’t be ashamed to show your space while you’re working from home and parenting. Let your colleagues meet your kids and see the “real-life you” that they’d never get to know from a cubical. There’s something special about realizing so many of us are working parents. We’re all human—and we all have a lot on our plate.

 5.  Amp Up Your Technology Game

Make sure you’re using the best remote work tools to get your work done and support your team. A better tech stack will take up less of your time and make you—and your team—more efficient. 

Welcome is shaping the future of remote work for parents with tools that help you feel more connected and make the work day more enjoyable. But don’t just take it from us! Check out the businesses using Welcome to make remote work better.

We hope these tips will help make you a more present parent. As you master how to work from home with kids, we know you’ll stay on your A-game at work. And if you can do that? You can do anything.

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