One thing that can be really tricky to get right is that elusive work and life balance. We all need to work, in the majority of cases. But when you’ve got children, it can make it hard to have as much quality time with them when you’ve got busy work commitments to see to. I feel very lucky to be able to work from home. But sometimes, I get a bit slack with my family and work balance. Sometimes I can be physically present in the home, but not present at the same time, if that makes sense.
So it really is tricky. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to work out of the home. My husband commutes into London every day for work, so all in all, he is gone for at least twelve hours each day. He recently moved offices which means he no longer has to take the tube. But it still means two trains to get to work, that takes just under an hour and a half from our door to his work door.
When he was taking the tube as part of his commute (along with Southern Rail – we hate you), he could sometimes take even longer. There are frequent delays on them, especially at commuting times. Even 10 minutes here and there can cause problems. Especially if it means missing the usual train and having to wait another half an hour for another one.
Check out these stats about commuting in London and delays – it’s actually quite shocking!
I found some of this really crazy! Especially on the central line – that used to be the husband’s route, so it explains a lot! So what can be done? Luckily, Mr U’s work does allow him to work from home once a week. Twice if he’s lucky. But other than that, there isn’t much he can do about it.
I am just glad for technology that allows more and more people to work from home, though. You could read more on the GoToMeeting blog. I like how it shows that even just once a week will give you back an extra three hours a week. Got to be a good enough reason to do it, right? You can do a lot in three hours, especially when it comes to seeing more of your family. Now we just need to get more companies on board with flexible working… But that is a whole other can of worms!
What are your thoughts on this?
*collaborative post
