When you ask a Klooker about their typical day at work, you’ve got a 100% chance they’ll answer something along the lines of “There’s no typical day here” or “Each day at Klook is different”. And while that’s true, it’s also soooooo unsatisfying if you’re trying to figure out if Klook is the right place for you! So in this series, Klookers take us along on one of their (un)typical days at work — no excuses.
Today, Meidy Zhafiera shows us how she juggles work and caregiving as a Senior Creative Project Executive and a mother in Jakarta, Indonesia.
09:00
I'm not a morning person - even after having a kid, I still can't get up early! Working from home since the pandemic just made this bad habit worse. I wake up when my daughter’s awake, and it's usually around this time. Then I head straight to the kitchen and make breakfast for her, my husband, and myself.
10:00
It's time to open my laptop to check emails and Lark messages (our internal message platform). Usually, I already have tons of Lark messages waiting for me. And…
Yup, that's the usual number of messages I would get in the morning. Shocked? It's because I'm still active on two teams, Localization and Creative. So there are a lot of messages from groups and personal chats.
I'm in my 4th year at Klook now. I started as a localization editor for our website in Bahasa Indonesia, and later moved to Content Operations and then to Global Creative Team. While formally I'm a Project Executive for the Global Creative team now, I'm still occasionally helping the localization team with some aspects of Indonesian localization.
Since working from home and becoming a mother, I have never worked in one fixed place when working. I need to follow wherever my kid goes. Though my parents or my husband would help me take care of her, she would always look for her mother, so I have to be around her most of the time.
12:00
Now it’s time for lunch! Honestly, I rarely cook at home. Not because I can’t cook (hey!), it’s just that I don’t have time to do it. So food delivery is our way to go! While my husband and my daughter have lunch, I would usually join a meeting or two before I enjoy my lunch in peace.
14:00
Around this time, my daughter starts to make a fuss and needs to be breastfed. Because she’s still being breastfed, I am also the one who needs to put her to bed when she’s sleepy. The problem comes when I need to join a call while she’s sleepy. I need to lull her to sleep while listening to the meeting using my earphones.
To be honest, as a full-time mother slash full-time employee, having a call with her beside me is not unusual at all. In fact, she has joined me more than I can count in the past two years! She would stay still if she could see her face on my laptop, so there’s no issue for her to be with me during the call.
I split my screen during the call so she can still watch her favorite Youtube video!
14:30-16:00
My kid is usually asleep around this time. Now I can fully focus on work. I use this precious time to follow up with Klookers who have requested creative assets for their project, before briefing designers with the details – including what assets we need to provide as well as the deadline. If there are too many requests at one time, I would communicate with the clients (read: Klookers who request creative assets) on the possibility of adjusting the delivery timeline so our designers are not overloaded.
Taking on two roles at the same – as a mother and a full-time employee, I need to be smart in dividing my time between taking care of my child while still keeping my eye on emails or Lark messages so I could respond if there is anything urgent that needs my attention, or if there are localization projects that need my help.
Do I have any tips on multitasking between both roles? Nope, not at all! As the title suggests, there’s no typical day here at Klook, especially if you are also a working mom. Every day can be very different, but I realize that over time I’m able to manage my time intuitively – as long as I have a proper to-do list that I can follow.
A sneak peek into my calendar. I tend to record all the project deadlines and to-do’s in my calendar, so I know what to do everyday.
16:00
My daughter wakes up now. So I prepare some fruits or snacks for her, and of course, her milk. Thankfully, she is used to eating by herself since she was 9 months old. She can just sit somewhere and watch some Cocomelon videos while eating. And I can continue with my work!
19:00
I usually finish my work around this time. If I feel like I’m in need of fresh air, I’ll ask my husband and my child to go somewhere… usually malls because that’s the only safe option in Jakarta. Unsurprisingly, I’ll be excited again (who won’t be if you can look at flashy new things in the mall, right?) and my kid is also pumped up because she can run around a bigger space than our home. Of course, it only happens in the first and second week after we get paid. After that? Well, we’ll be stuck at home like this.
22:00
Around this time, my kid would be sound asleep. I would use this quiet time to manage some of my creative and localization projects, and check if there’s anything I need to follow up on the next day. Sometimes I would also send emails or Lark messages because I’m afraid I would miss it the next morning – sorry to those who received my messages around this time!
Why would I continue working outside of the working hours, you might ask? Well, as you might have noticed, my normal afternoon working hours are occupied by childcare so my focus time is very limited. I really need this “bonus time” to finish everything on my plate, so I would be able to deliver the work.
And it’s not a very long period anyway. I usually finish my remaining tasks in one or two hours, and finally end my day with one or two episodes of Korean drama. I think this is one of the perks of working at Klook. Here, I can do both my jobs properly and simultaneously, which is a blessing for a young mother like me!
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Posted by Meidy Zhafiera
Based in Jakarta, Meidy is responsible for managing creative projects at Klook. Outside of work, she likes to play with her daughter and watch Korean dramas whenever possible.
