How to stay positive and productive – whilst juggling a caseload and home-schooling

In the 2020 lockdown, the ONS cited that over half (52%) of parents with school-aged children admitted that a child in their household was struggling to continue their education.

The current lockdown (from January 2021) has the same challenges as the first for parents schooling their children at home, with the added pressure of less on furlough leave; fatigue with it being over 300 days in since first lockdown; and not to mention the poor weather depriving us of Serotonin – associated with boosting mood and helping us feel calm and focused.

It’s, therefore, no wonder many people are feeling the full effects of cortisol, the stress hormone.

All things considered, looking after your own and your family’s health and wellbeing should be top priority. We have put together a ‘super seven’ list of tips to de-pressurise your day and help to keep you and your child(ren) motivated. Five suggestions to save time and improve company systems follow – sound advice, particularly for any law firm that still relies on paper-based correspondence.

‘Super seven’ tips:

    1/   Get your basic needs right

    2/   Set expectations and boundaries

    3/   Create a schedule

    4/   Motivate with a reward system

    5/   Maintain your body and mind

    6/   The importance of an evening routine

    7/   Realistic prioritisation

1. Basic needs

At the risk of stating the proverbial obvious, your basic needs should be attended to first. Often because these are so familiar, they can be overlooked; however, a tweak here or there can make a big difference to your level of comfort. Your physical workspace, room temperature, lighting, audio quality or blocking out sound – and making sure you have enough sleep – should be considered and adjusted accordingly.

Mealtimes, snacks and drinks – meal planning and setting up a place for self-serving healthy snacks and drinks could reduce the frequency of ‘disturbances by child’ by a substantial amount. Although it’s tempting to give in to demands for sugary snacks, remember that after the sugar high comes the blood sugar dip, which risks an emotional outburst.

2. Set expectations and boundaries – together with your child and partner

Managing expectations can go a long way to ensure the day goes according to plan. Sit down with your child(ren) to talk about issues which may arise. For example, when must your child absolutely not disturb mum or dad working? Could your child(ren) make some ‘Do not disturb’ signs for your door to get the point across?

If you are working in a separate room, how could they communicate to you that they need help?

If children are sharing a laptop or there is only one quiet room, discuss how the use of them will be shared to try and avoid day-to-day aggro.

If you have a baby or toddler to take care of, could you create shifts where each family member can take turns in the care of them?

Asking your child for ideas and discussing them will help them to comply if they have had some input and agreed on the boundaries.

3. Create a schedule – the best way to add structure to your day

Settling into a routine, for you and your child can be a positive first step to feeling more in control of your day. Again, don’t underestimate the power of sitting down with your child and building a routine together. If the ideas come from your child, they will be all the more willing to feel the need to stick to the plan. A good start will be to ask your child what their school day timetable is or divide the study time into manageable 30-minute chunks.

Your routine should certainly include getting up and dressed at a reasonable time, frequent breaks and bursts of exercise, so that you all have the chance to let off some steam. Eating lunch together will also ensure you have some bonding time and don’t eat at separate times.

Many schools provide children with exercises to start their day. If your child starts the day with 10 minutes of exercise, why don’t you join in too? Sport England have also provided a list of ways to get active on their Join the Movement webpages.

4. Motivate with a reward system

A reward system should also be discussed with your child, but not before you have thought about this thoroughly yourself. Otherwise you might end up committing to something that you later regret!

Rather than buying a toy or sweet treat, you could offer them more ‘screen time’ to get them motivated and for their end of the week reward, make this a family activity that you can all enjoy, such as watching a film or baking together.

When a child is rewarded with a chocolate bar, their brains produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes them feel good. However, this is a short term pleasure and too much dopamine has been linked to addiction and substance abuse in adulthood. Research shows that you should focus on rewarding children with more social interaction, praise, hugs and simple eye contact, which will promote the production of ‘oxytocin’ – the long-term well-being chemical.

If you want to learn more about this, check out the free ‘In Love while Parenting’ mobile app from Human Improvement Project.

If your child knows what is expected of them every day and receive lots of praise when they complete a task, they may be more inclined to do the next task, especially if collecting a number of stars or simple ticks will earn them a ‘proper’ treat at the end of the week.

5. Maintain a healthy mindset / Avoid burnout

When frustrations arise, work together to form a list of five minute activities that will give you a break, such as making a hot drink, running up and down the stairs 10 times, doing a quick exercise routine or colouring in.

Whilst ‘mindfulness’ may seem like yet another bandwagon to either jump on or ignore, did you know that the topic is now part of the school curriculum? Children are taught mindfulness exercises, relaxation techniques and breathing exercises which helps to show the way the body works as well as their emotions. Perhaps you could join in with the activities?

Practicing mindfulness techniques throughout the day can be as simple as bringing your attention to your body and your senses, rather than focusing on your thoughts. Learn to recognise moments of pleasure in your day whether it’s a hot tea and a biscuit break or a break to cuddle your child.

Too much of the stress hormone cortisol over a prolonged period can have an adverse affect on your body. The best ways to lower cortisol levels are to lower stress levels, get a good night’s sleep and eat foods such as dark chocolate, pears, bananas, probiotic yoghurt and decaffeinated green or black tea. Unfortunately, caffeine will not help to lower cortisol and won’t help to achieve a good night’s sleep.

6. Wind down after being wound up

At the end of the day, having a ritual routine will really help your mind and your body. Give yourself time to process how your day has gone and think about what you need to prioritise tomorrow into a list, so that you can be reassured you won’t forget about them.

A routine should improve the quality of your sleep and will also improve memory, cognitive flexibility and attention, so it’s well worth creating a routine you enjoy and sticking to it.

Extensive studies have shown that social media scrolling and TV viewing have been linked to anxiety, increased stress levels and to lower attention spans.  Nowadays many of us watch TV and scroll on their phones at the same time, which can increase agitation. Consider leaving your phone on charge out of your bedroom, turn off the TV and find one relaxing activity to do for 30 minutes before sleep time, to give your brain a chance to wind down. Reading, adult colouring, yoga or listening to a podcast will all give your brain a break from thinking about domestic chores or work.

7. Realistic prioritisation

When Court deadlines and clients pull one way and your child and their schoolwork pulls the other, you could feel like an exasperated, frazzled ‘piggy in the middle’. If you find yourself wound up, stressed or overwhelmed, have a deep think about what you need to prioritise and talk to others to get a sense  that your perspective fits with reality.

Consider each of your family members priorities and your own work commitments. Remember you only have a finite amount of time in a day, so by being honest with yourself and cutting down or stopping time-consuming habits like logging onto social media, online shopping or even drinking copious amounts of coffee may help to free up some ‘lost’ time.

Prioritise work based on importance and urgency. For truly urgent tasks, set reminders, alarms, notifications on your calendar, phone, voice assistant, notepad or even the fridge door – whatever you need to do to make sure your priorities ‘get done’ at the right time.

There is always going to be the looming temptation to do chores throughout the day, but will it really matter if you live in an untidy house for a few days whilst the heat is on at work?

Although parents feel enormous pressure to help their children complete schoolwork, in reality the lockdown is only a few weeks – out of years of schooling – and teachers will be prepping to teach the curriculum to your child when they are back in school.

So if you make the choice that schoolwork is not a priority right now, it may help to create a schedule for the day – that your child will enjoy – to ensure they have some variety. Exercise, breaktimes, talk to friends time, lunchtime, TV time, arts and crafts, computer game time. You could even create the schedule around educational programmes from BBC Bitesize, at least they will be learning!

If your work commitments are piling up, you will probably feel forced into working overtime into the evening or weekends and if that’s the case, you should certainly talk to your manager about getting more support in your role. It’s apparent that now is the best time to persuade your employer to invest in technology to help ease the burden.

Consider the inCase mobile app

The inCase mobile app is a revolutionary new approach to communication, client liaison and correspondence and very importantly, a really fast and ‘Covid secure’ way to engage with clients.

The app certainly proved its worth in the last lockdown, and it could also help you to deliver better client service whilst home-schooling.

If a lawyer manages 20 to 30 cases on average, supported by paralegals and secretaries in most instances, it is imperative that delegating and communicating well, in an organised system will make the whole team’s day run smoother. In the 2020 lockdown, inCase users were delighted with the functionality of the app for many reasons.

Here are 5 ways that using the inCase app can help you, and potentially free up some time to home-school your child.

1. Identity checks for new clients

Getting the right information from a new client and organising the physical and electronic case file is crucial to being organised from the start. Whilst some firms are still predominantly paper-driven, the inCase app automatically requests that clients complete the ID check whilst state of the art facial recognition technology confirms the client’s credentials.

Tom Parkinson, Director and Head of Property at Rowlinsons Solicitors commented “The inCase app has allowed us to communicate with clients at distance, in a more efficient and safe manner. The app has undoubtedly sped up the process, for example we can now onboard clients within just minutes and have all of the client care documentation returned to us moments after they have agreed to instruct us.”

In addition, the inCase app provides forms and questionnaires to ask the right questions at the outset which are easy for the client to complete and saves time.  Furthermore, for client’s paying on account, you will be able to access a proof of funds confirmation that has been verified directly with the client’s bank.

2. Speeding up processes and improving safety

In traditional law firms, there are so many processes which could be quickened by new technology – increasing the efficiency of each fee earner and reducing the workload. Jennifer Dougal, Head of Operations at Michael Jefferies Solicitors was very impressed with using the inCase app during the 2020 lockdown “We had to furlough our receptionist at one point, so we didn’t have anyone answering calls and directing them to the right place, it was a little bit chaotic. I think inCase in the midst of it was helping to keep our clients focused on where their case was up to and help fee earners as well to communicate and keep in touch with clients.

We were also about to put a lot more digital signatures onto forms of authority – which meant people were getting back to us much quicker than they were previously. The turnaround time was 10 days quicker on those cases where you had forms of authority.

A lot of people at the beginning of the lockdown were very cautious about handling mail, having something that is a completely digital solution made people a lot more comfortable.”

3. Enhanced client service

Whilst delegation to colleagues may be the only option when you are very busy, Chris Walker, IT Director at Gorvins Solicitors explains how the inCase mobile app helped in accessing their case management system and delivering a consistent service to clients:

“During lockdown the inCase app was our preferred method of communication with clients anyway, but without it, it would have been a whole different ball game, we were able to just carry on – as if we were sat in the office, with remote access to our CMS. From the client’s perspective nothing changed, we were sending everything via the inCase app. We were still opening files and getting clients to fill in documentation, and getting clients to send their details and scan documents via the app. It’s made that continuous client service applicable during the pandemic – which we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.”

4. Team working

Many law firms are still extremely reliant on paper and signatures in person. The first adopters of the InCase mobile app, which allows mobiles to submit electronic signatures and self-scan documents, gained big advantages in speed of process and ease of interaction for clients.

Dave Briggs, Marketing Manager at Nash & Co commented on the 2020 lockdown “People weren’t really allowed out of the house to get to post offices, for us that wasn’t a problem at all, we were able to do everything through the app, which was just enormously beneficial for us and for them, it meant that we could carry on doing all of the work, we still had all our team working.

The communication, the sending of forms between us and the clients, was really helped massively by having the app, if we didn’t have that I really don’t know where we would have been, we would not have had the number of clients coming to us. Even during lockdown we were getting new conveyancing clients coming to us.”

5. Automate updates and case progress

At the first signs of slippage due to volume of work, there is no other way but to be honest with your line manager – making sure that you have some suggestions for helping to reduce or eliminate the issues.

Engaging your manager in the solution finding process will help to reduce unwanted surprises from their point of view. If you are disturbed by too many client calls due to volume of work, could you automate some standard updates to clients?

The inCase mobile app shows clients your process flows and enables you to set trigger points in your case management system, which will automatically keep your clients fully informed – hence reducing incoming chaser calls and emails.

Tom Parkinson, Director & Head of Property at Rowlinsons explains “In a time where property solicitors and conveyancers are facing significant pressure and demand from clients, it has helped us to ease the burden on our staff, owing to the automated updates that are sent to the clients as we progress the matters and ease in which we communicate with them and update them. This has also greatly reduced the calls and emails into the firm”.

The Gateway platform from inCase also provides a way for third parties to see progress on a case, again reducing chaser calls and emails further.

Summary

If you are finding home-schooling difficult, it’s ok to take a break. Have faith that the school will pick up any gaps in your child’s learning. Don’t see it as your child falling behind – because every child in the country is in the same situation at the moment.

Positive affirmations when you have a bad day

• You have managed to get through every bad day you’ve had. You’ll make it through this one too;

• Use your struggles and frustrations today to motivate you to improve or make changes, rather than feel annoyed for a long period or give up;

• Today is only temporary;

• Tomorrow is a fresh start; and

• Breathe – it’s just a bad day, many lockdown factors justify the pressures.

Remember, there is only one you and only so many hours in the day; so recognise when you have hit your time-limit and think seriously about delegating, outsourcing or automating – particularly if the tasks are routine, administrative or support orientated. If you feel an investment in new technology will not only improve your working life – but also increase client satisfaction and your firm’s long-term prosperity – can you afford not to find a better way of working?