Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is about a
Speaker 1: specific schedule that in a two adult family can use
Speaker 1: to share childcare and give each party time to work.
Speaker 1: If you are staring down a fall of working from
Speaker 1: home with kids around, and you don't have any other
Speaker 1: paid childcare options, this schedule can allow you to feel
Speaker 1: a little less like you're in survival mode and a
Speaker 1: little less pulled in all directions. So a few weeks
Speaker 1: ago I talked about childcare when working from home long term.
Speaker 1: If you have young kids, you really can't be the
Speaker 1: adult in charge during the hours you are choosing to work. However,
Speaker 1: if you have partner who is also working from home,
Speaker 1: or another adult with whom you can share care, then
Speaker 1: by arranging a formal swap schedule, you can each get
Speaker 1: a reasonable amount of time to focus. Basically, you think
Speaker 1: of each work day as eight am to six pm,
Speaker 1: which consists of two shifts. Will also assume that any
Speaker 1: young kids nap from roughly one to three pm, and
Speaker 1: older children can have screen or quiet play time. During
Speaker 1: this window. One parent will be technically on to deal
Speaker 1: with disruptions, but will most likely be able to work
Speaker 1: during this early afternoon time anyway. On half the week's
Speaker 1: party A works from eight am to three pm Monday, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and Friday. Of that block, eight am to one pm
Speaker 1: are focused work hours and one to three pm are
Speaker 1: probable work hours. Party A also works from one to
Speaker 1: six pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Party B works the
Speaker 1: opposite hours on to six pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,
Speaker 1: and then eight am to three pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Speaker 1: Every week you switch the Friday schedule, so whoever has
Speaker 1: the eight am to three pm schedule one week takes
Speaker 1: one to six pm the next. If you calculate this out,
Speaker 1: you'll see that in any given week, one person has
Speaker 1: twenty nine hours to work and the other has thirty one.
Speaker 1: This can alternate week to week, but in each week
Speaker 1: hours are focused and four to six hours are probable
Speaker 1: work hours. For this to work, of course, both parties
Speaker 1: have to agree to the schedule, I mean really agree
Speaker 1: and just as critically when either party is on with
Speaker 1: the kids. That means keeping the kids out of the
Speaker 1: other person's home office, no wandering off to take a
Speaker 1: quick call only to find the kids camped out in
Speaker 1: the other party's video conference. I'd also stressed that it
Speaker 1: is probably much more efficient to just hire a sitter
Speaker 1: for a few hours. That's the route my family has chosen.
Speaker 1: But if that's not possible, then this schedule can give
Speaker 1: each person something close to full time hours, and you
Speaker 1: could actually get to full time hours by doing a
Speaker 1: few further swaps, like each person working one evening a
Speaker 1: week from six to ten pm, or doing an early
Speaker 1: weekend morning shift. If the goal is for both people
Speaker 1: to be able to keep moving forward in their careers,
Speaker 1: then this can reduce the sense of trying to do
Speaker 1: two things at once and feeling like a horrible employee
Speaker 1: and a horrible parent at the same time. If you
Speaker 1: swap work hours with your partner or another adult, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear about it. You can let me know
Speaker 1: how it works in your household at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's the succeeding in the new corner office.
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