BBC Interview “Fail” Shows the Human Side of Remote Work

Have you ever felt pressured to check your personal life at the door when you go to work?

Many of us have.

But the reality is, we all have personal lives, and sometimes it’s impossible to separate those from our professional ones.

Professor Robert E. Kelly recently proved this to be true.

In a BBC news video that has gone viral, Kelly’s two young children burst through the door of his home office during a live TV interview, showing that our two worlds sometimes collide even when we don’t intend for them to.

But this video also proves that it’s not always a bad thing to have your personal life seep into your professional life. In fact, it can be beneficial to your career.

In this case, the “incident” showed viewers that Kelly—a political-science professor at Pusan National University in South Korea—is a relatable human being. Yes, he’s a respected professional, but he’s just a dad, like so many other people out there...and this video likely hit close to home for many of those who’ve watched it. Rather than thinking, “I can’t believe that guy let that happen!” I’d bet most people have laughed and said, “Yup! I’ve been there!!”

Early on in my own career, I was discouraged from sharing details of my personal life at work. I was told that it was a “distraction” from my work goals and was “disruptive” to my team. I now reject this philosophy completely, as I’ve found that when I am able to bring my whole-self to work, my stress level is reduced, my productivity is higher, and my relationships in and out of work are enriched.

Over the last 10 years I have worked from home, just like Kelly is doing in this BBC interview. When I have video calls with colleagues, sometimes they will see my dog, chickens, goats or a family member in the background of the screen—and it’s usually a great conversation starter. It’s a good way for us to connect and get to know each other as people. We ultimately build stronger relationships and do better work together because of that bond.

My hope is that when people see this BBC video, they don’t see a man who jeopardized his career by having his kids barge into his office during a live interview. Instead, I hope that they see it’s perfectly acceptable to be both a family man (or woman) and a professional at the same time...even if he probably should have locked the door before his interview!

Update - This video was just released by CBS of the interviewee and his family speaking about the BBC interview.

If you are interested in finding a remote job and bringing your whole-self to work, I invite you to check out my LinkedIn Learning course on Finding a Remote Job.

Mike Gutman is the Director of Marketing at FlexJobs, a LinkedIn Learning course author, and he's been working remotely since 2007.