Pandemic and Work-Life: Do You Feel Balanced?
Written by Niyah Lighty
What we once knew as work-life balance has now been changed. Covid-19 caused for major changes in work-life balance in numerous ways. From a college student going to class to an employee at a corporate office, social, personal, and work life was changed in a blink of an eye.
Due to coronavirus's fast arrival, many people did not get to adjust quickly or healthily. It's best for people to address and tackle the effects of covid-19 and their work life but what are the effects and how does one prevail from them?
The Effects:
How has covid-19 effected work-life balance?
Although not everyone agrees on one negative or positive of how coronavirus has changed people's lives we can all agree that there have been some lasting effects of it. Isolation and family roles which both feed into work overload and conflict.
Isolation
The virus caused a global shutdown which meant everyone had to be isolated at home. Being isolated caused some to have a lack of focus at home which could prompt over load. This could be a cause of interrole conflict which Schieman et al. describes as "the simultaneous occurrence of two (or more) sets of pressures" (2021) which means that doing one thing while doing the other causes a bigger stress and a need to focus on one thing or the other. An example of this could be the intertwine of parenting and stay at home work. According to Schieman et al. (2021) people with children under 12 experienced the most work-life conflict due to being home with children because of interruptions and homeschooling.
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Family Roles
"Work schedule is important for family communication" (Perna, 2019). Family is a very important thing to mostly everyone in this world. Before shutdown some people had traditional roles in their household. Due to isolation, many people discovered that roles changed within the household. This goes hand and hand with work-life balance and overload because not being able to interact with your children can cause one to feel what Dunn explains as "mom guilt" (2020). It also causes a shift in daily tasks like distractions and if one can't balance work and life, life becomes complicated.
Work Overload
Isolation and family roles are reasons for work overload and conflict. Being in isolation as a student can cause for one to be anxious, stressed, and distracted due to not being able to keep up with work or feeling like they aren't living up to their work. Family roles and isolation intertwining with workers due to the fact that parents aren't able to 100% focus on themself and their work and often have to find a balance with their balance with their partner (if they have one).
Ways to Overcome
A Few Tips to Help Cope with Work-life and a Pandemic
During this stressful time, many people had to learn how to combat remote work and home life by themselves but may not have known exactly how to do that. So what can be done to provide support and guidance during a pandemic?
In a Forbes article by Wuench (2020), she provides some tips for balancing work in the pandemic and the central theme is to work with your self. This means that where you can start for change is within yourself. Try to take some time for yourself, make sure you are on task, and provide your self a list or schedule to stay on track. Other means for change to seek out could be communicating to your employer or professor the things you need during this time. Most people have become more understanding and lenient so it doesn't hurt to reach out! It is also important to communicate with your love ones or roommates what is needed in order for your success. This could be asking for help around the house, asking to watch the dogs or kids, or asking for a few minutes of silence so you can be the best at what you do.
Image Citations
Aleksandar Nakic (n.d). Having a video conference call from home [Photograph]. Gettyimages. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/having-a-video-conference-call-from-home-royalty-free-image/1216403165?adppopup=true
Carol Yepes (n.d). Stressed student [Photograph]. Gettyimages. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/stressed-student-royalty-free-image/1183395875?adppopup=true
Google. (n.d) [Google image of covid mask png]. Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://www.google.com/search?q=covid%20mask%20png&tbm=isch&hl=en&tbs=ic:trans&sa=X&ved=0CAMQpwVqFwoTCKD2j976yPQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAC&biw=1519&bih=696#imgrc=4oDSV2nafBskFM
Google. (n.d) [Google image of coronavirus]. Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.siemens-healthineers.com%2Fen-us%2Flaboratory-diagnostics%2Fcovid-19-public-health&psig=AOvVaw1jnBdMBdjot-BS60d3mbJT&ust=1638666437038000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjhxqFwoTCLjz6_OJyfQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
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