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How I juggle work life and family life in the time of COVID-19
We have all had our lives turned upside down by COVID-19. In my case, it’s trying to juggle the role of principal lawyer and being a husband and father to our four children, writes Cain Sarah.
Cain Sarah
I love my job and my firm. They are good people who treat staff very well, so we are a united team forging even stronger bonds as we work through this difficult time. I have an amazing set of clients who are incredibly loyal. In fact, I would call many of them friends; people I love to catch up with over breakfast, lunch, a game of footy or just a chat. So this lack of face-to-face contact will be a stern test for a people-person like myself.
All staff have a high-spec laptop that enables us to work at home as efficiently as if you were in the office. We use MS Teams for regular departmental catch-ups and we are running a number of webinars for clients, providing hot topic updates and a Q&A on our website to deal with legislative changes as and when they are implemented.
It’s one thing to have the technology, but in my opinion, a culture of open and honest communication is key to making this work. Our CEO Steve Parker hosted a company-wide catch-up last week, no small feat with a firm of 300 odd staff over Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
What was clearly defined was our current situation, our direction over the coming months, our short-term goals and how to achieve them. Sacrifices were agreed upon and concerns eased. But we are also realistic; we face an extremely challenging time but one where if we work together, work hard and continue to liaise and communicate with our clients and each other, we will emerge at the other side stronger than before.
Like everyone else, the other half of my life has probably required more adjustments. I write this on a desk in the corner of my bedroom, on a borrowed desk – my new office. As a co-founder of software company, my wife Matilda, has always had a hectic schedule. We’ve both shifted to 4.30am starts, squeezing in more work before the home schooling begins, while navigating the uncertainty of what we can, can’t, and shouldn’t do in both business and life in general.
Our two eldest boys Charlie (13) and Archie (10) have had a fairly seamless transition to home schooling. But for the younger two Billy (8) and Scarlett (6) it’s been more difficult. Our day involves roaming between the kids’ school tasks and doing our own work. It involves compromise, sacrifice and doing things at times pre COVID-19 you would not have envisaged.
I know it’s early days, but it’s been manageable and I have seen some positives. I am someone who struggles to slow down but I have been forced to. We are spending more time together and trying to exercise daily as a family. We are eating better as we have more time at home to cook and the kids are slowly realising they have to do more to help around the house and becoming more self-sufficient out of necessity. That said, there are times when it all becomes overwhelming and all doors and windows must be firmly closed for fear the shouting will be heard three suburbs away!
So it seems the new normal is here to stay for a while but I have to say after the initial teething problems, I am enjoying working from home. I believe we can all get through it with hard work, communication, sacrifice and focusing on making sure our families and friends are all okay.
As the cases of COVID-19 become more prevalent and the social distancing and isolation rules more stringent, it becomes clear that we are in this for the long haul. I try to focus on today, reaching out to mates, asking people how they’re coping, seeing and hearing what they have to say. Acknowledging the humanitarian and economic crisis that we are all in together, thinking of the people in the hard-hit countries, those who have lost family members and those who have lost their livelihood and then I knuckle down and try to get my job done both as a lawyer but also as a husband and father.
Cain Sarah is a principal lawyer at Macpherson Kelley, specialising in property and construction.
