In September, I wrote about the Government's suggestion that I return to my office. Admittedly, I thought that it was humorous, but no more than that. But now, Boris suggests that I should stop slacking - I paraphrase, although not that much.
Well, I wish him the best of luck with that.
Admittedly, in my case, I don't really have an office to return to - my old office closed on 28 February, and its replacement isn't ready to be occupied yet - but now that I am expected to work no more than three days in an office even after things return to "normal" (whatever that is), I'm beginning to reconcile myself to a rather different work/life balance.
I've now been working from home for over a year and it has had some interesting impacts. The obvious ones - the reduction of my commuting costs from £2,000 per annum to... nil has been very nice. The improved access to snacks and drinks is certainly welcome, and I've even managed to lose a few pounds against the apparent trend.
I can also schedule my day to get in a little light exercise - a brisk walk mid-morning or mid-afternoon gives me the space to run a few thoughts through my mind in terms of case strategy and prevents me from squinting at my Surface Pro too much - we're advised that we should take short, regular breaks to maintain our health, both physical and mental.
And, if I need to do something during the regular workday, I can slip away for a little while to do it, as long as the hours are made up either at the beginning of the day or at the end.
My employers are still fairly conservative in terms of the workday - roughly what one might describe as usual office hours - and that is one thing that hasn't really developed yet. You see, I'm not really a frontline employee, in that customers seldom call, or even write, and that leads to the question "does it really matter when I work, as long as I'm contactable by customers and my scheduled hours are worked?".
And that's an interesting point. Previously, I worked the hours I worked because of the availability of public transport and because that's when the building was open. You couldn't really get in before 7 a.m. and you had to leave before 7 p.m. because the alarm system was turned on. Working from home, I could theoretically wake up at 3 a.m. having had a eureka moment, go downstairs, walk across the patio to my home office, crank up the Surface Pro and draft a letter to an accountant or customer. I'm not saying that I would - I suspect that Ros would be less than impressed - but I could.
I am an owl, rather than a lark, and it might suit me, and my employer, if I operated when my brain operated more efficiently, rather than obliging me to fit an arbitrary schedule of their design. And yes, that would mean occasionally making appointments with customers and accountants to speak on the telephone or via video link but flexibility potentially benefits everyone.
And it enables my employer to use office space rather more efficiently, whilst improving our environmental impact through reduced travel.
It's not for everyone - many of my colleagues organise their lives around family and caring commitments and a predicable work schedule is probably easier to manage - but if the only things that matters are staff satisfaction and outcome delivery (and I think that the two are closely interrelated) then offering staff a greater degree of freedom in how they managing their work is likely to be a good thing.
But, going forward, I could envisage getting to the gym midweek when it's relatively quiet, using the commuting time saved to better effect, or slotting in an eye test at a convenient time, rather than having to have it at lunchtime or at the weekend. My employers get the time that they pay for and a better motivated employee, I get a decent work/life balance and everybody wins.
So, Boris, lay off with the snide comments about my workrate and productivity and give some thought as to how you can increase freedom by liberating people from the nine to five box, rather than sacrificing us at the altar of your commercial property owning mates.
3 comments:
I don't see any branches in your area but.....could it be Pret a Manger applying the pressure to get people back in the office?
It wouldn’t entirely surprise me, but it feels more like an effort to persuade us that things are returning to normal. The problem is that “normal” has changed. By how much it had changed is still to emerge...
It's been interesting to see the work model I have been using for years become the norm for lots of people, and the tory pushback against it. For years I have known that I work better afternoons and evenings (I too am an owl rather than a lark) and that I am more productive when I'm not in a noisy office being distracted by other people... I'm very happy that others are getting the opportunity to experience this.
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