Places of paid work and unpaid work: Caregiving and work-from-home during COVID-19

Abstract

Eldercare and places of eldercare have been radicalized with the advent of COVID-19. Growing concerns about the safety of long-term care homes, coupled with the continuation of stay-at-home orders, mean that carers are reconstructing new meanings and places of care provision. Increasingly for many Canadians, the home is rapidly becoming the nexus of one's domestic, work, and caregiving world. By interviewing working carers (n = 5) living throughout Canada, this study investigates the changing meanings of home as a place for care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon lived experiences of informal carers engaged in the workforce, we observe a blurring of spatial and temporal boundaries between places of work and places of care. Specifically, we note that the integration of carescapes and workscapes into a single domain presents both benefits and tensions to carers, such as increased schedule flexibility and disruptions at work, respectively. Parallel to this, we also explore how previous places of safety and respite, such as independent senior residences and long-term care homes, are perceived as sites of danger and anxiety due to the vulnerability of seniors to COVID-19. This dynamic is likely to continue well into the future, as long-term care homes fall out of favour and carers adopt a more integrated approach to caregiving within their daily lives.