Q: Your partner or roommate keeps bothering you when you're trying to work from home. How can you nicely tell them to leave you alone?

A: This is a good time to have a discussion about establishing boundaries for when one or more of you is working (or studying) from home.

Announce the meeting verbally to your household, and make it official with a time and date that works for everyone. Have an agenda of things you would like to discuss, and give your spouse, roommates and children permission to air their annoyances, as well. This meeting isn't about what other people are doing wrong, but rather how you all can be more productive and respect your relationships.

During your meeting, discuss one another's work hours, schedules and breaks. If the conditions you are working under are an issue, bring it up: Maybe you're the one who has had to work on the couch, and now you'd like to work at the kitchen table. You also might want to set up guidelines about what sort of issues merit an interruption — discussing whose turn it is to do the dishes after dinner doesn't make the grade, but deciding which parent can take a work break to pick up a child at day care does.

Make sure to also address your need for alone time to unwind after your workday. Also find a communal time to regroup and check in with one another. We often take our loved ones for granted. So while at home, compliment and recognize when someone in your household does something that makes you feel good. Take the time to have gratitude.

JULIE BLAIS COMEAU, chief etiquette officer at Etiquette Julie

A: It's important to be empathetic when talking to your partner or roommates for a couple of reasons: One is that the more you understand what they are trying to get out of the interactions — relief from boredom, perhaps, or comfort from anxiety or a more level playing field with child care — then the more you can help resolve the underlying issue. Plus, others are far less likely to go on the defensive and escalate things into a conflict if they feel that you are being understanding about what they're going through.

With roommates, of course, you have more leeway and don't necessarily have to prioritize their needs the way you do with family members — but empathy still helps. Either way, you will get the best results if you offer a specific, concrete solution, such as, "It's really stressful for me to break from my work in the early afternoon, but can we catch up at 4:30 when things wind down?" This offers a path forward rather than just saying what not to do.

Finally, protect the boundaries you set, whether with a physical barrier like a closed door or an agreed-upon visual symbol of when you are in work mode like headphones.

ANDREA BONIOR, psychologist and author of "Detox Your Thoughts"