5 Remote Work Challenges for Moms

Benefits of working from home for mothers

1| Spending more time with the kids

Even if you are busy with your work at home, being with your children in the same place helps increase communication between you and your children and makes your children feel that you are close, even if you are busy.

2| Flexibility

The remote work option has the most essential feature that a mother needs: flexibility. For example, a mother working from home can wake up two hours before her shift starts, complete some tasks related to her job, add these two hours to her lunch break, and exploit use this extra time to attend a meeting or event at her children's school, or go to a doctor's appointment, or do one of the dozens of tasks assigned to her as a mother.

3| Saving time

Time is a mirage that working mothers chase, and it slips through their hands whenever they feel like holding it. We working mothers wish there were 36 hours in a day instead of 24 because we always don’t have time, are always in a hurry, and are always late for something. As for working from home, you are saving a few precious hours—the ones you spend getting ready to go to work and the ones you spend commuting to and from work.

4| Staying away from office drama

Despite the many benefits of working in an office, the truth is that there is some drama in every workplace. And God knows that a mother never lacks drama, suspense, excitement, or horror. Therefore, when working from home, the working mother saves herself from the vicious circles of gossip, jealousy, and problems in different workplaces.

5| Saving money

When you work from home, you will save on car fuel or other transportation costs, in addition to your clothing budget, as you will not need to renew the contents of your closet every few months, as pajamas are the outfit you will wear every day. During meetings where you have to appear on camera, you may wear a shirt or a jacket, but we know that pajama pants and slippers complete your invisible look. Also, working from home will help you save on childcare and other costs that a working mother spends.

Challenges of remote work and solutions to address them

The picture is not entirely rosy; working from home, like many things in the life of a working mother, is full of challenges that many are unaware of. From my experience working from home for over a decade, here are the main challenges:

1| Your colleagues and manager may think you are not working

There is a misconception about people working from home: they are less productive, do not work, and watch TV or exercise during work hours. While the opposite is true, working from home increases productivity and achievement, even if it is not visible to others in the office.

Solution: Use one of the task organization tools and share it with your team and manager. Write down your daily tasks to clarify what you do during the day. Don’t be shy to share your achievements with your team, as this will prove your productivity and be an opportunity to inspire others.

2| Time management

When you are committed to working hours and staying within a one-time frame every day, it is much easier to manage your time than when you have the flexibility of working remotely. You must spend eight or nine hours in the office and then return home at the end of the workday. We remote-working moms fall into the time trap of opening the laptop at 6 am and not closing it until 6 pm due to multiple breaks to prepare lunch, pick up the kids from school, or other endless tasks, which is physically and mentally exhausting.

Solution: Write down your schedule in advance, divide your day into several boxes, put your work tasks in a frame between eight and five, and put motherhood tasks such as picking up the children from school and serving lunch in the lunch break box. Prepare food and clean the house either before the start of the workday or the evening before. Do not forget to seek help from any means or person to help you and put on the Super Mama cape, as it will only cause you fatigue and frustration.

3| Being the absent present

Yes, you are home with your children but not present. You are close, and your child can hug you several times daily, but you are so busy that he will feel it. You may be there to listen to your daughter's complaints, but you will not have time to deal with and advise her until the end of the day. You will not always be available to answer calls from your family and friends, even though you are at home.

Solution: Take a moment from your work and hug your little ones whenever you can. Tell them you love them and plan a lovely evening with them after work to watch a family movie or play fun games. Don’t feel guilty because you’re not talking to your family and friends; schedule your calls with them while driving to pick up your children from school or during your lunch break.

4| Isolation and loneliness

Despite the advantages of working from home, especially for mothers, it can easily be a source of loneliness. You can’t hang out with your friends as much because you are busy during work hours, and after work, you are busy with motherhood, exercising, and spending time with your family. You are also far from the office atmosphere, colleagues, communication, and social activities associated with work, which increases your loneliness and isolation.

Solution: Make up for the lack of social connections by joining a book club or any group that practices a hobby you like to spend the weekend with. Try to meet your friends whenever you have time, visit the office occasionally to meet colleagues, and interact with them closely.

5| Health problems

Working from home means sitting behind a computer screen for long hours, which causes pain in the wrist, hand, neck, back, eyes, and other health problems associated with prolonged sitting.

Solution: Use hydrating eye drops to fight dryness, and make sure you work out daily, as exercising is essential to strengthen muscles and combat pain. Set a timer to remind you to get up and walk around your home office for two minutes every hour. Invest in a comfortable chair to have a healthy sitting posture; my experience is that gaming chairs are the best option for working from home. Don't forget to use support tools such as braces, which are very useful, especially during stressful times.

To sum up,

Working remotely is one of the most essential flexible options that mothers need. Although it was a temporary solution during the pandemic, this model is still followed by many companies and institutions worldwide. Although it gives mothers the flexibility to balance work and family, this option comes with some challenges that can be solved with patience and effort.