Working practices post pandemic

I thought I would jot down a few thoughts and observations about working practices during and after the pandemic.

Since Covid-19 emerged in earnest at the beginning of 2020, besides throwing so many aspects of our lives into disarray, it also changed our working habits in ways that very few of us, if any, would have ever thought possible previously.

Our ways of living, doing business and going about our working lives are adapting and developing at a fast pace - it is no secret that necessity is the mother of invention. Whilst that is a slightly cliched saying, I think it certainly holds true in many cases over the last year, although some might argue that not all change is for the better.

One of the most significant changes for many of us has been the requirement to work from home if we are able to. Clearly a lot of people can’t work from home, for example essential workers, many in manufacturing sectors and those in sectors such as refuse collection, street cleaning, public transport, supermarkets, etc. However, for those of us who have been able to, working from home on a near-permanent basis has resulted in a seismic change in how we live our lives.

What interests me is speaking to people who have had to work from home and gaining an insight into how they have found it. As one might expect, some have loved the experience, others have hated it, and many have simply seen it as something that had to be endured and adopted a middle-ground ‘pragmatic’ approach. Whilst I am generalising here, many who have enjoyed the changes appear to be those who previously had to endure long and tiring commutes to work, and/or those who labour under the stresses of juggling work with childcare. On the other side of the coin, many with young families also expressed frustration at working at home and trying to also oversee young children with home schooling or simply multi-tasking work with DIY home daycare. I can understand the pros and cons on both sides, and as someone with children myself, I experienced the sometimes-fraught challenges of juggling all those responsibilities on a daily basis, often in a high-stress environment particularly during a pandemic.

From a personal point of view, if you had asked me a couple of years ago what I would have thought of being able to work from home, I would have likely answered with an enthusiastic yes. However, when the first lockdown occurred and I actually did have to work from home all the time, I found my expected enthusiasm rapidly waned. I, like so many others, experienced first hand the challenges of being at home all the time, sharing my space with a spouse who also had to work and share my space, as well as my children. Don’t get me wrong, I love my wife and children dearly, but spending every hour of every day of every week together did not strike me as being a very healthy situation to be in for any of us. I found that I missed being at work and especially missed my colleagues and clients, and being able to interact face-to-face. Personally, no amount of Zoom interaction could make up for the absence of being around real people. Whilst the technology is a blessing in many ways (as I discussed in my previous post), I found that in some ways it is also a curse - a double-edged sword if you like.

Speaking again from personal experience, in a pre-Covid world I relished opportunities to work from home or out of the office. I found that having a break from the office environment could energise me and enable me to work and focus in ways that I couldn’t always when at my desk. Different work spaces and environments helped me to be more creative or focused. For example, I liked being able to do some work at a coffee shop for an hour or so before getting to work, or perhaps leaving the office mid-afternoon and doing something similar towards the end of the working day. Being on my own out of the office often enabled me to focus on an important task or deadline, without being distracted by colleagues, calls or other distractions, however well-meaning these might be.

However, the crucial distinction with regards to my work habits pre Covid was that whatever I did (within reason of course) was my choice. I could choose to work from home or out of the office if I wanted to, but equally I could choose to be at the office all the time. Choice is the operative word here. During the pandemic the vast majority of us haven’t had a choice or real say in the matter, understandably. What I found was that the appeal of home working paled without the ability to make my choices independently, which was a far more empowering situation to be in.

There have been quite a few polls doing the rounds on LinkedIn and other social media concerning people’s preferences for working from home or at the office once this pandemic is over and life starts to return to some semblance of normality. Based on what I have seen, most people would prefer to be able to choose a mix of office and home based working. I suppose there will always be people who would prefer to either work from home or at the office all the time, but for a lot of us, somewhere in the middle tends to be most attractive. Although I now work for myself, from home, were I to still be employed, I am fairly certain that I would like to have a choice of a mix of office-based and home working.

In my view flexibility is key and will very much depend on each individual’s personal circumstances and stage of life. Although generalising, I might expect young people fresh out of university, college or school to crave personal interaction and if one is starting out in the working world and requires on-the-job training and close mentoring, a majority of office-based working might be preferable. On the other hand, someone who is starting a family or has young children and needs to balance work with childcare may prefer more flexibility over being able to work more from home, but still be able to keep in touch with work colleagues or clients a couple of times a week. There is no right answer - each person will be different and have different needs.

Which brings me to employers. When I started out working 25 years ago, I think many employers and workplaces may have been slightly sceptical when their staff wanted to work from home. Although flawed, there was the view that those working from home were more likely to be simply ‘skiving off’, pretending to work when in fact they were watching daytime telly or meeting a mate down the pub. Fortunately I have always worked for very understanding and mostly trusting employers, who allowed a fair degree of flexibility and mutual trust, more so in recent years as working practices and views have modernised and changed (for the better in my opinion).

I think what many of us are coming to realise is that working hard does not always mean working smart, and that actually, one’s best work may not always necessarily be achieved in an office. Its about quality, not quantity at the end of the day, and a happy person is far more likely to thrive in an environment where choice and flexibility (and home/work balance far better achieved) are made available, and mutual trust is fostered. Whichever way one looks at it, it is likely that working practices have now changed forever.

I’d be interested in finding out what you, the reader of this article, thinks. If you have a view and fancy sharing it with me, please do feel free to get in touch with me at michael@mjmilton.co.uk.