25.
Laundry, Cooking, and Running Errands
There are two things you can be guaranteed to hear when someone learns you work from home: First they’ll say something like, “It must be so nice to not have to worry about showering or having to dress normal,” which is always odd to hear. Sure, you might wear pajama bottoms more often than not, but it’s not like you avoid the shower for days on end, relishing in not having to stay clean.
The second thing you’ll hear usually sounds something like, “Oh, how great is it to do a load of laundry while taking a meeting, or being able to just run out to pick up a prescription and no one’s the wiser?” It’s always asked like a question, but it’s meant as a statement. And as such, you’ll usually respond with a light laugh and say something like “Oh, totally.” Because that’s often not true at all. Or maybe it is totally true, but it’s also none of their daily-showered-dress-clothes-cubicle-dwelling business.
So what’s the point of a chapter devoted to laundry, cooking, and running errands? Guidance! When it comes to their own interests and the interests of their employees, it’s time for virtual managers to stop pretending it’s some weird, unspoken secret.
I think the phrase “working from home” creates the sense that people aren’t actually working as hard as they could be or perhaps not even working at all. Part of this theory might stem from the fact that most people who work from home do so in yoga pants or pajamas. Does it really matter? Because the dress code at home is casual, does that mean the level of work output is also casual, or can you put your best foot forward in a robe and slippers? Have you ever seen a head shot of a Fortune 500 CEO in anything less than a suit and tie? Is there a good reason for this? Should we expect that the term “dress for success” apply to all scenarios to dismantle the theory that a casual outfit leads to casual output? Does business attire ultimately impact how we operate? If not, why have suits or uniforms historically been such a large investment in the corporate world? Should office attire apply at your home office too?
—Michelle Polinko, Chief Development Officer, Northeast Ohio Region of the American Red Cross
Let’s Level Set, Shall We?
Just because you’re working from home, does that mean you should get the liberty to do a few loads of laundry or run the occasional quick errand to pick up some sugar or a prescription at your leisure? Yes. But also maybe, no. In brief, it’s very much dependent on the circumstances of your office culture and organizational policies. There are so many ways that this topic is inadequately addressed or defined for virtual teams. It’s a perfect microcosm for why we wrote this book.
You Can Have It All, and Smell Spring Fresh Too
Do a load of laundry. Throw it in before your first call of the day, take two minutes a few hours later to toss it in the dryer, and then fold it and put it all away during lunch. Why not? However, if you or your employees are alternating between answering emails and attending meetings while sorting, washing, drying, folding, and putting away several loads of laundry a day, we call foul. The time behind all of that would add up and it’s encroaching on workplace neglect. Don’t give us all a bad name! So, while you shouldn’t open a laundromat in your house, doing one, maybe two, loads throughout the week? Sure.
If it’s done smartly, doing something like a load of laundry shouldn’t have any more impact on your virtual job than the random breaks folks take in a proximity workplace, like hanging in a co-worker’s cubicle to catch up, taking trips to the watercooler, or maybe sneaking into the breakroom to check out the donut situation.
In fact, giving this advice to your employees is not only liberating but another way to express the benefits and realities of virtual employment. Why would we turn a blind eye? This could be a smart, fun anecdote to use during the orientation and onboarding process: “Oh, and yes, you can do a load of laundry in between day-to-day duties here at Company XYZ, just don’t make it a daily habit or have it obstruct any part of your planned day, please.”
You Can Cook Your Lunch, and Eat It Too
Working virtually opens up the opportunity to be home for your lunch hour—your full lunch hour—in a way that just isn’t available when working in a traditional office. Depending on the type of person you are, you might find this more or less difficult than being in an office setting. When working from home, gone are the days of running out the door in a frenzy and forgetting your lunch, only to have to buy lunch later, spending way more than you should. Or perhaps you find eating lunch at home a bit like looking at the menu of a Jersey diner—everything you could possibly desire is there and it’s impossible to choose because everything sounds good.
The best tip we can give you on this is to plan. Just as if you were going into an office, choose what you will have for lunch the night before and set it aside so it’s easy to access when lunch time rolls around. We went back and forth about whether this chapter should be filled with tips on how to better plan for lunch, and we did come up with a few:
• Prep your lunch the night before.
• Buy easier meals to make in your microwave or straight out of the fridge.
• Don’t forget that many restaurants deliver just about everywhere.
• Who needs lunch, anyway?
But then we realized that this book is built to answer questions about things you can’t find on Google, and there are a million ways to search for fast tips for lunch at home or on the go. So we decided to take an entirely different approach: Don’t overlook the importance of lunch in any workplace—virtual or stationary—and remind your employees the very same.
Taking an hour to step away from your desk is important. Especially in an environment where you might not leave your house for days at time if you didn’t have a reason to leave. So, get up, get away from your desk, and make your lunch. Eat on your porch or balcony or at the park across the street. Or maybe go out to eat, but do it somewhere nearby so you don’t go over your time.
Just like in the proximal workplace, you can also use your break to do other things, like take a brisk 20-minute walk or grab a first or second shower. Use the time to chat with friends or family or spend time with your pets or kids or tackle a few chores. Be in the moment and around others, away from work, and engaged in anything but work. Let your lunch hour be a little reminder in the middle of your workday that you’re more than just a face in front of a set of monitors and keyboards.
Taking time away from your computer during your work day is such an important part of your own overall wellbeing. On a nice day, I sometimes go on a quick trail walk over my lunch break—15-minute drive, 30-minute walk, 15-minute drive back. It energizes me for the rest of the day and helps me get a little extra physical activity.
Also, a few friends who also work virtually meet at my house a couple times a week and we work together. Sometimes we take our lunch break to chat and catch up with one another, or maybe I’ll make lunch for all of us, or sometimes we go out to eat somewhere local. Whatever the lunch plan is for the day, I always make sure I take that crucial time to mentally break from my work and reset for the afternoon.
—Kathy
Out of Office, Out of Mind?
Errands. Whether you’re going to the store for milk, the pharmacy for medicine, or the dry cleaners to get things pressed, errands are little micro trips that you take once or several times based on your needs. When done over your lunch break, who knows, who cares, and what does it matter? However, outside that timeframe, we think it’s a different story. Unlike a load of laundry—which one might argue is a micro-errand within the home itself—running errands outside the home is a whole different issue. And yes, we realize that most of your work can probably be done from your smartphone, so you may think there’s no harm in running an errand or two if you have time to spare and no one will notice. Well, from your own perspective, maybe not much. But when you consider this through the lens of being a manager, you might feel a little different.
Remember the chapter about flexible schedules, where we talked about how flexibility is not only beneficial but often essential? One way to think about errands is to focus on how or where they need to get done within the time and space of your day. Meaning that while some errands might be more important than others, broadly speaking, we don’t think this is a perk or privilege you should exercise consistently without acknowledgment or permission from a boss or supervisor.
As always, our advice about policies and procedures is warranted here too, but this also becomes another topic about culture and disclosure. If you’re fine with virtual employees running the occasional errand with permission—let that be known and clear. It’s a wonderful stance to have, and it will be appreciated and welcomed. But if you’re not, let that be known and clear too. It might not be as wonderful or welcome, but it will still be appreciated and respected.
Yep. I do chores at work—the kind of chores that don’t require much focus, attention, or work, but might take some time. I put laundry in the washer before I start the day, I move it to the dryer mid-morning, and I sometimes fold it during lunch. More often than not, there’s a gigantic pile of clean laundry in our living room for my husband when he gets home from work. Somedays I chop up vegetables and toss them in the slow cooker in the morning. It takes about 10 minutes, and then when my day’s over, I have dinner ready for my family. And other days, I use my lunch break (when I actually take it) to run to the grocery store, post office, or pharmacy. Being OK with this might be the biggest shift, from both my vantage point as an employee and supervisor. I liken it to the time spent chatting at another colleague’s desk or running out for coffee during the workday.
—Rachael Orose, Vice President of a National Nonprofit
A Few More Thoughts
Keep an eye on the time. Making your lunch (soup, a sandwich, or some pasta) is a far cry from baking a pie or preparing a roast and vegetables. While we’d never put an actual time clock on your prep, if you’re taking longer to make something than you would spend at your table in a restaurant, it’s likely bordering on an inappropriate use of time.
Signing Off
Are stationary employees truly under the thumb of their employer by design or default? Just because you can often “see” them, does that mean their culture is truly different? Maybe. Does being virtual, and thereby not often being “seen,” allow you to be less under watch? Again, maybe. But does that mean the opportunities are truly ripe for employees to do what they please and go where they want, when they want, on company time and dime? No!
That being said, working from home does change the landscape of opportunity, need, and privilege. Therefore, topics like doing laundry, taking time to cook a meal, and running errands are worthy of real conversations about real conditions and expectations.
As a manager of virtual employees, the topics and experiences are different, and as such should be handled differently. The trick here, like every topic we cover, is to be real, honest, direct, and open. Because if you’re not, it’s really easy to not just lose focus of the realities of the virtual workplace, but also to lose track of your people.