It’s really interesting to realize that the “new world ” we were expecting – a world post covid – looks more and more like old world.
There is a major difference though…. we’ve seen how it could be!
Before covid
Most of us were in the office Mon – Friday with a clear separation of home and office modes. We would leave the office and call it a day.
Some of us had worked the odd Friday from home and it felt amazing, but it was more an exception rather than a rule.
You were expected to be in the office every working day no matter what and going to doctor was something you had to plan months in advance, it felt almost has hard as if you were asking if you could be naked in there.
We didn’t know any other reality
During covid
We suddenly had to work from home full time, from our kitchens, from our sofas, from our beds. We missed our daily commute where we could listen to podcasts, music, catch up with your favourite series or just sleep. It all blurred up.
The number of emails increased like a never ending tsunami.
New joiners would come and leave without meeting anyone in the flesh.
The instant chat was bipping like a disco.
Meetings became the modos operandis. If you need something, book a meeting.
As a consequence, most of us ended up working longer and longer hours. The time spent on cummuting went into working, with the flexibility to take / get the kids to school, take them to their after school clubs or even a change to say hi to the neighbours.
Post Covid Year 1
As covid rules started to ease, it was the age of hybrid working. At the beginning there was quite a lot of freedom. People were encouraged to try to return to the office and for many of us it was pleasent to return back a few days to interact with the colleagues. The coffee chit chat was back, it felt refreshing but also less productive.
Where we stand now
Bit by bit, we are being asked to be there full time. Why? I don’t quite know. The only thing I can think of is because the ones making the decisions don’t know any other way. I struggle to compreenhed why companies can’t embrace flexibility. It works both ways!
You can’t expect your workes to do the same hours they were doing from home AND return more often to the office.
An article from guardian (here) says that more than a third of the workers would quite if they were asked to return full time.
Give me an article that shows that being in the office increases productivity
Yeah I’m waiting…..
No?
Here’s some that shows remote working does:
- Business news daily https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15259-working-from-home-more-productive.html
- And another here
There’s really good reasons teams should get together in the office – at least once in a while:
- To establish relationships
- To welcome a new joiner – and here I would suggest different team members rotate the days so that the new joiners gets to interact with everyone in the team, get to ask questions and as a consequence learn from different people.
- As I wrote in the future of the office here the office should be it’s own experience, with a valid reason why it makes sense to go. Celebrate success together, team lunch, team brainstorming, you name it.
- I tell you what is not a good reason: To tick a box and because the ones on the top making a decision can’t embrace new ways of thinking.
Why are people reticent to embrace being back in the office more often:
- Because it’s expensive – yeah my friends, it’s expensive to go to work even if you bring your own breakfast, lunch and snacks
- Transport is totally unreliable – As I type, I just discovered there is another train strike next week in the UK with only 1 train an hour in my area. There is no way I would be able to drop / pick the kids from school.
- Because we don’t see the value in it. When I go to the office I want to chit chat to my colleagues, which is the point of going right? But this means I am less productive or sometimes I don’t even get the chance given I’m in the office while in back to back meetings with a remote team all over the world.
- It’s exhausting – the time spending in commuting is no small ask. On a good day it’s a good 2h20 per day lost, which I could have used to sleep and / or work a bit more while having the chance to be more present with my own family.
- No infrastructure – Where do we leave the kids? Let’s face it, costs are going up everywhere, we can’t just simple fund enough after care hours. It’s also not fair on the kids to leave them in after school care until 19h because the parents don’t have a choice. The way I see it, we should embrace decentralization and having smaller centers close to schools and embrace community life.
I’m pretty sure this list could be augumented a lot.
I am curious to see what will happen to the talent pool once they send more applications to companies offering flexibility. I do believe we have the power to strike back and change the paradigm of work. We can work differently, there are other ways, not just the old way.
We need to embrace the leadership skills of tomorrow and not be afraid to do different. We need different, we need better!
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