Remote work: How parents are adapting and working during COVID-19

Working Parents on the New Reality of Remote Work

For many working parents, the line between office and home has never been blurrier. With schools closed and daycare unavailable, parents are finding new ways to structure their days, communicate with their teams, and stay sane. Two GitHub employees, Cindy Alvarez, head of customer research and mother of two, and Simon Taranto, senior software engineer and dad, recently shared how they're managing the juggling act during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reinventing the Daily Schedule

Both parents have abandoned the traditional 9-to-5 workday in favor of, in Alvarez's words, an "extreme split shift." Alvarez works from 7 am until noon, goes mostly offline, and then returns to work around 10 pm. For her, this wasn't the first choice—initially she tried to work normal business hours with breaks for childcare and personal tasks, but found it "stressful and ultimately ineffective."

The shift came when she recalled a framework from The Vanishing Options Test by Chip and Dan Heath: ask yourself what you would do if you were stuck in your current situation forever. That question helped her design a schedule that she could sustain. She also went through her calendar and declined all meetings scheduled past noon, which served as a forcing mechanism to evaluate which gatherings were actually necessary. For anything else, she relies on asynchronous communication with her team.

Taranto, whose partner also works from home, has shifted his hours earlier in the day. His partner watches their toddler in the early morning until a family member arrives; Taranto takes over around 2 pm through dinner while his partner wraps up her workday. He notes that the routine is "definitely tiring," but acknowledges that company leadership has been explicit that no one is expected to be running at 100% right now.

Finding Community in a Parents Group

Both Alvarez and Taranto participate in GitHub's #parents Slack channel, which Taranto describes as a mix of "serious conversations and helpful solutions" along with a "healthy dose of more lighthearted fun and commiseration." Taranto is also part of an effort to form a new employee resource group focused on parents.

Alvarez offers herself as a private resource for colleagues dealing with challenges ranging from tough pregnancies to returning from parental leave and general worries about a child's well-being. She's open to direct messages from anyone who may not feel comfortable asking questions in a larger forum.

Minimizing Distractions and Staying Focused

Communication is key to managing focus when both partners are working from home. Taranto and his partner share Google Calendars so each knows when the other has a call or a deep work session that requires uninterrupted time. Whoever is free takes over childcare responsibilities.

When possible, Alvarez moves to quieter locations for important meetings. She sometimes takes calls from her backyard patio with headphones to block out household noise. She also offers a broader piece of advice for those in the software industry: don't force yourself through a workday when you're not functioning well. She recalls times she tried to work through feeling unwell and realized she would have been more efficient if she'd taken a break and returned to the task later.

Managing Stress During the Crisis

Taranto has been making a point to reach out to friends and family more often since the outbreak began, admitting this isn't something he was normally great at. He finds the daily conversations therapeutic, and they give his daughter a chance to connect with relatives she can't visit in person. Regular walks, sometimes with the stroller and occasionally the dog, help him unwind after work.

Alvarez emphasizes the importance of being "insistent about doing things that recharge you," whether that's exercising, watching a movie, or reading. She notes that taking care of yourself isn't selfish—it makes you more patient with your kids and more energized with your team. Her primary recharge is running, and she also practices a daily habit ritual: each month she picks a couple of new habits, which gives her a sense of achievement even on bad days. One of her current habits is to simply step outside the front door and stand on the sidewalk for a moment.