Working From Home: The Good, The Ugly, The Surprise

Belinda Grunewald
Owner
Right at Home Grosse Pointe

1. Describe what you do and who you work for. 

I am an owner at Right at Home Grosse Pointe. Our caregivers work in private homes, helping seniors with their daily activities so they can live as independent as possible. Especially important right now during social distancing and quarantine. I usually spend my time meeting with clients, their families and others in health care as well as providing local educational events and public speaking about senior care.

Earl Grey with milk and honey (every day), my daily half a bag of cheese puffs
& Beats for phone conferences. The modern office!

2. How does it feel working from home, what is your daily routine like now?

I don’t mind working from home as I can grab my laptop/cell phone in bed and start working at 6:30am when I wake up. Take a breakfast break and make myself presentable to make a fancy entrance into the living room and continue working from there. Not being in the car gives me more time for phone calls and emails. I often stop working between 4pm-6pm, then continue again in front of the TV until bedtime. I should mention that I have a desk, but really, the couch is So. Much. Better.

3. What is the most challenging aspect of working from home?

The days just disappear now, and I can’t remember what day it is, forgot garbage day last week so that’s piling up! Is anyone else atrophying from inactivity? I’m not going to the gym and lie to myself every evening that I’m doing yoga tomorrow! Work has seeped into my daily routine and seem to be taking over most of my time as I’m bored if I don’t have anything to do. Have you noticed we don’t have weekends anymore?

The kids love having us both home all day, but we are working and sometimes working while being asked to look at me, can I tell you something, guess what, he’s copying me, I love you – can be a bit distracting.

4. What is the biggest positive change since you've started working from home?

I’ve started painting again which is nice. I’ve organized all my files on my computer, started to work on redesigning our SharePoint page. I’ve gotten closer to the community by helping with resources and support. Earl Grey with milk and honey (every day), my daily half a bag of cheese puffs & Beats for phone conferences. The modern office! Having long conversations over the phone with clients and their families and others who work in health care is my favorite part of the day. We are all in need of human connection and someone to talk to.

5. When things go back to "normal", how do you hope this period of working from home will change the way we work.

We have all pulled together as a community, companies are working together and sharing resources and information, I hope this will continue. Change is scary, as we now are getting used to remote meetings and new technology, let’s continue using it!