Working from Home - The Pluses & Perils for Fathers

If you recall in my last week’s mentoring piece, I discussed that behavior is caught more than taught. Today, my goal is to encourage dads to model a work-life balance. I am sure you would agree that we live in a time when work-related demands are increasing. Would you say the need to be "always on" is impacting your home-life and your ability to unplug? If so, you are not alone.Let’s unpack a couple of these ideas beginning with some research stats. William Becker, a Virginia Tech associate professor of management in the Pamplin College of Business, co-authored a new study. Becker states, “The competing demands of work and non-work lives present a dilemma for employees, triggering feelings of anxiety and endangering work and personal lives.”  You already knew this, right? You have felt it in your own life, perhaps.This new study exposes something else: “Employees do not need to actually spend time on work at home in their off-hours to experience the harmful effects of ‘always on’. The mere mindset of always being available increases stress between the worker and his family, even when the employee does not engage in actual work during at-home time.”  Reread that last sentence. Just the mindset of being "on" creates a negative impact on the family.When I was in administrative leadership, my superior said to his leadership team, “I want you to shut down your e-mails on Friday after work and not re-engage until Monday morning. If I need to reach you, I will call.”  He stated that disconnecting with the device would enhance our job satisfaction and increase our productivity once we were back at work Monday morning. What a gift!  He was on to something.Back to our research---Becker, Virginia Tech researcher, exposed another reality:  “flexible work boundaries often turn into ‘work without boundaries'.” I would imagine that working from home during the Covid-19 situation has exacerbated the challenge of "work without boundaries". This constant availability can invade the overall wellness of the family culture.  So, what can be done?Becker says to institute policies, similar to the one I described. Additionally, could organizational expectations be clearly communicated in the interview process as part of the cultural expectations? Foreknowledge is a powerful thing, and if you are instrumental in hiring, clarifying your, or the company’s, expectations is honorable. Another technique: remove the temptation and be present, fully present. Toss the cell in a basket and teach your teens to do the same. You are modeling even if you don’t have teens in your household yet. Littles take pictures with their minds and remember…!I admit that navigating these boundaries between work and home are a peril of the 21st century. What are you willing to let go of in order to allow God to teach you how to walk this path, or for Him to show you another one? Yes, another one. Your choices affect your most precious relationships – your wife and your children. The minute you walk in the door, could you toss your device into an out-of-sight, out-of-mind basket and be FULLY present for the next several hours with your family? And then, if you must, pick it back up after the house is quiet and everyone is in bed, checking one last time to give yourself that assurance to "sleep well"![embed]https://youtu.be/f7Trshl1P_0[/embed]