One of the major disruptions felt from the pandemic is our relationship with the workplace. As many countries brought in national lockdowns, employees were told to work from home, if possible. As so many people have discovered that working from home can be both effective and much more convenient, not everyone is looking forward to their return to the office.
Across the UK, as vaccine numbers increase, restrictions are being lifted, one of which being the order to work from home. However, many workers prefer their new normal and don’t want to go back to the traditional setup. This is understandable as working from home cuts out the commute, it saves you the hassle to find childcare and gives you much more freedom. It’s also worth noting that we are still in a pandemic and many employees are fearful of the risk of office working, in terms of catching Covid. In fact, when asked, more than two thirds of workers said they were fearful of returning to the office.
It’s clear that the pandemic has changed working life forever but that doesn’t mean the office is over. Whilst working from home can provide a plethora of benefits, so can working on-site. There are many things to consider before writing off the office completely.
Reset Your Day
One of the upsides of working from home is that you can fit work around your day. For example, starting your day later, having regular breaks or even working into the night. Whilst this is good for some, a common side effect is that you no longer have a regular schedule to stick to. This can lead to late nights, late mornings, lack of sleep and possibly even anxiety and stress. When you work away from home, you have to commit to specific set hours and therefore fall into a natural routine. It’s this routine that provides the much-needed structure to the day and some workers need this in order to function.
Procrastination
The freedom that working from home provides can sometimes become a curse due to procrastination. When you’re at the office, you are there to do a specific job and usually you’re being watched by a supervisor. Therefore, it’s easier to avoid procrastination and remain productive throughout the day. When working from home, you’re not only left to your own devices, you’re also surrounded by distractions. It can therefore become very easy to avoid work, leading to a dip in your output. Eventually, this can become detrimental to you job, again causing stress and potentially anxiety.
Socialising
One of the main differences between working on-site and working from home is the fact that you are away from colleagues. For some, this is a benefit as it allows them to focus on their work and avoid any distractions. However, after a while, working alone at home can have some negative effects as it reduces social contact and can lead to feelings of loneliness. This is particularly problematic for people who live alone and for whom work may have been their main social interaction within the day. Whilst this may not affect everyone in the same way, committing to long-term work at home could have a detrimental effect on your mental health.
Health
Understandably, many workers are fearful of returning to the office due to the threat of Covid. Even when fully vaccinated, we still need to be careful and the thought of heading back to the office is worrying for some. Fortunately, workplaces are still obliged to mitigate risks that their employees face. Also, many companies are choosing to keep some of the restrictions they imposed during lockdown, for example frequent cleaning, reduction in visitors, one-way systems, etc. It’s impossible to reduce all the risks posed by Covid but workers can be assured that their employers are doing everything they can to help.
Even if all businesses told their employees to come back to work immediately, it’s unlikely that all would. The solution may be a hybrid approach to work, where employees are given the choice of whether they want to return or not. You could also have staff working part-time in the office and part-time at home. In this instance you could get the best of both worlds. Business has changed, possibly permanently and it’s only by embracing this change and making the best of it, that a balance will be achieved.
