On the couch with Jasminda

DEAR Jasminda,

On my rostered day off last week I went for a day trip to the beach.

After getting a bit too much sun, I rolled over and noticed Amy, who is a junior work colleague, swimming in the ocean with her kids.

She was on a work from home day (approved by me).

She gave me a half-wave and left the beach soon after.

I’m now wondering if this is a regular event.

I often let her work from home so she can manage her childcare commitments, though my understanding was they were in daycare during school hours.

She also meets all her KPIs. How do I manage this?
Pete D.

Dear Pete,

Those of us in a certain age bracket find the whole work-from-home concept a bit hard to comprehend.

Before work-from-home possibilities, work meant getting ready in the dark, making lunches, dropping

toddlers off to long day care and/or negotiating with relatives to drop off the school-aged ones, de-latching them from your legs (the kids, not the relatives) wiping their tears from your polyester work jacket (ditto), driving to work in peak-hour traffic (one eye on the road, the other on your watch, since the tantrum meant you were running late), managing to arrive on time after running a red light (ignoring the eye-roll from child-free Lucas from HR), then going to the tearoom for a caffeine pick-me-up to find half a teaspoon left in the Nescafe Blend 43 tin.

That was before work had even started.

Invariably, two hours in, there’d be a call from the childcare centre because the Panadol had worn off and Aurelia was complaining of a headache and runny nose (that she’d obviously picked up from one of the other 20 kids whose parents didn’t have work-from-home benefits) so she had to be collected (but not before you filled out a form for HR-Lucas so he could dock your pay).

Now, there is far more work-life balance with previously unheard of leave entitlements such as mental health leave (traditionally resolved or made far worse at the annual staff Christmas party), maternity leave (which would have saved a few marriages in the 90s) and even pet bereavement leave.

With that work-life balance comes a shift as people navigate expectations including the confusing optics of seeing a work colleague at the beach in the middle of the day.

Pete, if this is a one-off, and if, as you say, your colleague is meeting her KPIs and is a productive staff member, I’d suggest you ignore the beach frolic.

Maybe Amy started her workday at 4am so she could take an extended lunch break.

Or maybe she looked up from splashing around with her kids and saw Project Manager Pete dressed in nothing but a pair of watermelon-coloured Speedos, and wondered, ‘What’s Pervy Pete doing down here when he should be at work? Doesn’t he live inland on a hobby farm?’

Carpe diem,
Jasminda.