We want to keep working from home
By “we” I mean the former office workers, and here is the story of how we got domesticated.
Remember the good old times, when we could simply leave our homes without masks, go get the morning coffee from the grumpy barista, jump in an almost departing full-of-people subway wagon and arrive at work, with the only worry in our minds being some deadline? I do not remember it either. The lives of office workers rushed to change drastically, and, however challenging it was to set an ideal psychological situation for productivity, many of us did it successfully. Good job, us!
The start of it was not a party, obviously. Being so scared of losing focus, I stayed at the office until the very last day it was allowed. I kept my morning routine as close as possible to the times before — even unnecessary habits like wearing office clothes. Nevertheless, concentrating on work during the first week of lockdown was comparable to swimming with stones attached to your legs — hard to stay afloat. Dreadful news popping up on your phone. Being scared for your loved ones. Uncertainty about employment. Children screaming from the back of your colleagues during Zoom calls. Zoom calls as they are. Working in pajamas. The whole bundle.
But then something very different happened. People thought, well, since we are locked in here for God knows how long, we might as well make it fun and productive. And so they did.
The rise of online courses, Zoom parties, and book sales marked the society finally passing to acceptance — we must stay inside for our own and each other’s safety — and it is alright. Turned out, in time usually spent on commute, one can do yoga and meditate. Free time in the evening equals more quality moments with your family. And, of course, we all remember the baking extravaganza that took over the internet for a while, as it suddenly became very trendy to post your bread frog on Instagram.
Becoming this comfortable with staying at home to work remotely meant a lot. Many of my colleagues went to work from smaller cities — closer to their parents or the sea. The quick-thinking ones rented houses outside of the city and got themselves the luxury of the fresh air and an island of free walking in the middle of the lockdown. We got accustomed to being in touch online and our calls became more effective, rapid, resourceful, and morally uplifting. As a result, almost 70% of the employees of my company pushed “no” when they were asked whether they would like to return to the office. Interestingly, the very same results were achieved by PwC in their survey on return to the office ratio. It is reported that 70% have various issues with going back — health being the biggest preoccupation.
Remembering the adaptation process it took to get comfortable with the home office, it is striking how now we are excited to adopt the teleworking approach. When the CEO of Twitter made a statement, saying the employees can continue working from home permanently, the Internet was surprised, calling it forward-thinking and innovative, but is it not the way we would want to apply as well? Chatting around these days calls to the conclusion — many office workers not only are happy with home office, but already are making plans for when it moves to the permanent state — to move south, live in a house in the woods (with some good Wi-Fi, bless it), or move to another country.
I am unaware of how I could explain this attitude to myself at the beginning of the year 2020, but I am guessing here we are. As the trend grows and we pack our suitcases to move further from the headquarters, the question of productivity arises. Naturally, we won some time, now we need to make sure it does not mean we will do things slower and lose touch with the company’s mission.
A simple yet beautiful way to do so is to approach technology as the Gen Z does — with excitement and familiarity. Accept the technology into our workflow and replace outdated and rigid ways for the sake of productivity and healthy work-life balance.
Start small — organize mutually available spaces for document sharing and collaboration. Make calendars available, clear, and updated — this transparence will let to fetch needed information in the push of a button. Finally, call, call, and call — see your colleagues, hear their voices, and admire their cat. No team-building ever achieved the level of trust between colleagues, as an early-morning call, when both of you clearly neither combed your hair nor changed from your sleeping T-shirt with a cracked logo of your favorite band.
In many ways, trust arises from understanding that your colleagues are unmistakably human.
This article is the author’s contribution to The Suite Medium page.
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