Juggling Work and a Family Crisis

Juggling Work and a Family Crisis

 

Do you fantasize about applying for circus work?  You’re juggling a lot at work and a lot at home.  Anyone would be amazed at your plate-spinning abilities.  However, how would you manage if a family crisis arose to boot?

 

An accident, illness, death or divorce can send anyone into a tailspin.  If you’re in a family crisis and you wonder how you’ll manage, try these tips:

 

• Don’t over-share with the boss.  You might soon need a lot of cooperation from him or her.  But for now, don’t pile on too many details.  If you overwhelm your boss, you’ll start to lose empathy if things go from bad to worse.  State only a few facts at first.
• Alert key clients or associates.  Do call others to say, “I’m having a family emergency at the moment.  May I extend my deadline for getting you the information you needed?”  Or, email others, if you feel this is appropriate.
• Enlist trusted people.  If your son, for example, has been in a motorcycle accident, do ask a nurse on each shift to call you—if something important changes.  Or, ask a co-worker to forward work emails to you, since you’ll probably need to work some from home.
• Risk straining a few people.  Do ask your neighbor to feed your dog or pick up your son from soccer practice.  Call in favors from anyone you can think of.   The goal is to ask a little of many people, rather than overload just a few.  It’s better to strain others a little than to risk overloading yourself to the max.
• Work in focused time slots.  Tell yourself, “I will focus on work for the next 60 minutes.  Then, I’ll pick up the phone to check on my family member.  This focus will keep you sane and balanced in doing your job.  But, it can also keep your from over-worrying.
• Check to see what your company offers.  If your employer offers time off, dependent-care assistance or other resources, make it a point to speak up loudly that you need this.