As we march towards the finish line of COVID, and normalcy is (finally) in our sights, we start to ponder about what work will be like once we physically go back. Those of us with the immense privilege of being able to work for home - and keeping employment - have enjoyed the positives rather nicely. Going back to the regimented eight-hour work day is going to be quite the shock.
No longer will you be able to do a load of laundry while you work, or run some errands whilst monitoring from the Slack app. It’s so nice to sneak a workout in during the times of the day when things are slower. The freedom of completing projects at your own pace, without the prying attention of your colleagues and senior report, is very nice indeed. Perhaps you want to clock in and out earlier on a particular day; working from home allows you to do that with ease.
All of that will be gone once we physically go back to work. The clock will seem interminable now that we are forced to be there for the full eight hours (plus lunch). Of course, from a macro level we should count our lucky stars that we still have jobs. But problems are still problems, no matter how first-world they may seem.
I think employers would do well to keep some of the flexibility brought on by working from home. For example, I should be allowed to go home if the day’s work is done, no matter what time it is. There’s no reason to wait out until 5:00 PM simply for the sake of it. Or let me go home period, if a particular project can be done entirely remotely. Introduce some asynchrony whenever possible, and I think the transition back to physical work will be much smoother and happier for all parties.
Practically since the pandemic began, I’ve been working on campus for about half the work week. Therefore, there isn’t going to much of a transition for me to make, which is nice. The days I can work from home are indeed more leisurely, I have to say. I’m going to miss them.
Baby, we’re going down.