Remote Work is Inclusive Work

Jana Hodgins
Apr 6, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Jun 30, 2022

Today my most authentic self is tired.

Fatigue with PTSD feels like barely having the energy to get up and do my normal morning routine. It's a struggle to get dressed, feed myself and take care of my dog.

I wake up in the morning tired, defeated, and sore. My cortisol and other stress hormones have been pumping all night, and it doesn't feel like I got any rest. My body hurts from being tense and contorted for hours. I am exhausted thinking about the day ahead.

Some days I really do need to rest, but most days I have to be brave and kind and keep moving forward. That's why I am so grateful for the opportunity to work from home.

Before I could work from home, if I woke up tired, defeated, and sore I would have to call in sick. I'd go back to sleep and never want to wake up again for fear of facing the guilt and shame. It led me to a dark depression where I drowned my sorrows and self-pity in a bottle. I hated having to constantly explain how I didn't have the energy to go into the office, let alone work for 8 hours in place without access to most of my tools. Being the absentee employee made it really hard to have relationships with my boss and coworkers.

When I finally had the option to work from home, even though it was frowned upon, I would Slack my team to say I was taking calls from home and work from my bed with the heating pad on my back. (Side note: My physical symptoms used to be much, much worse combined with a viral disease called Chikungunya and an apartment with black mold.) Coworkers would ask me if I was feeling better the next day and I often didn't have the words to explain my chronic illness.

Everything started to change after I got my 3 yo goldendoodle Mabel - more about this story here.

I finally started to thrive when I negotiated working 50% from home. When I started as a contractor, I had much more negotiation power because I was happy working for myself, finding my own clients and setting my own schedule. I started with a very cool studio called Supply full time, and worked in the office Mondays, Wednesdays, and every other Friday. I was also allowed to bring Mabel to work, who was 8 months old at the time. Our primary client was in Boston anyways, so all our calls were over Zoom.

This was hybrid before hybrid was essential! I have been taking a lot of my learnings from this time and applying them to my current hybrid working model.

Working from home allows me time to adjust to the mornings when I've had a nightmare or flashback. I have time to move my body, walk my dog, take a shower, take my supplements, make and eat breakfast, maybe even meditate and check my email all before my first meeting. Even when it takes me awhile to get going!

I can control the environment - the temperature, the scent, the lights, the potential triggers. I have the space to address a trigger if I have one. I can lay down, change clothes, snuggle my dog, stretch, cry, laugh, dance, pray and do all the things that help me be a fully functioning human in society - including work.

Jana sitting in her office chair sporting a black sweatsuit in an office with a motivational collage and Black Goldendoodle on the day bed.

This flexibility feels especially relevant as employers mandate returning to office and I am here to remind everyone - remote work is inclusive work. The flexibility to work from anywhere is inclusive to disabilities, diversity, neurodivergence, people of color, introverts, environmentally conscious, and more.

If applicable, please consider talking to your HR team about remote work as a reasonable accommodation, protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

I would love to hear your personal story about working from home. I would also love to hear about folks who are navigating the hybrid work world. Find me on social and let me know!

Some other tools I use to combat triggers and fatigue that can turn my day around: