They scream to me from another room. They bark while I’m speaking on a conference call. They beg me to make them food, clean up their spills, and help them organize their days. I have to be honest, these are not my favorite co-workers. They are, however, my favorite people — my family.

Nevertheless, they are driving me crazy. This morning while my youngest daughter was engaged in a remote learning session, she accidentally spilled an entire bowl of cereal on her bedroom floor. My husband, who was on an important call, merely shut his door. Meanwhile, I raced upstairs to triage the mess so I could get back to my own work, all the while muttering about how my new co-worker should be more careful, especially near her computer.

And then I have the co-worker who abhors noise and chastises the rest of this remote workforce whenever we become passionate, heated, or just plain loud. “Mom, I need you to keep your voice down. I’m trying to go to school,” she says. And to add insult to injury, she forced me to turn down the volume during the Dropkick Murphy’s concert on St. Patrick’s Day because apparently she had a test the next day and found it challenging to focus with the music in the background.

This is not the team I signed up for, but it’s the team I have to deal with. After a short team meeting, we’ve agreed to the following work principles:

• Bring on the Beats. While I’m used to hosting conference calls via speaker phone, this clearly won’t work in our new environment. Instead, we’ve enforced a “headset on” rule so that everyone can focus on the work at hand.
• Remember ’Til Tuesday: Voices Carry. While we have the space for four people to work comfortably, it’s clear that we are a loud bunch and need to maintain a volume level that is appropriate for a work environment, at least during the day.
• Asynchronous communication works well. Rather than yelling to each other across rooms (and thus disturbing others), we’ve elected to text when we need something urgently. We’re mindful that some of our co-workers are still in school and can get in trouble for texting. We limit it to essential communications only.
• Dogs will bark. It’s not just the two-legged co-workers that are proving problematic. My dogs can sense when I’m about to hop on a conference call and so can the Amazon delivery truck. Hence, I use the mute function liberally to avoid becoming another square on remote worker bingo.
• Respect work time. Some of my new co-workers end their day sooner than mine. As such, I’ve encouraged them to use that time to go outside and play ball or head downstairs for a workout.

I recognize that these might seem simple, but this is new, uncharted territory for me and these co-workers whom I adore but am truly struggling with. Come Friday night, they are family and the most important people in my life. My goal is to ensure that we not only manage our own productivity and maintain our sanity, but also come through this willing and wanting to spend time together.

Have you found yourself with an entirely new set of ‘co-workers?’ If so, how are you coping?