The work-from-home community has always felt like a small, tight knit community even though it’s been growing for years. Other freelancers are our colleagues and our “water cooler” for office talk has always been the phone, email, and video conferencing. My friends and family that worked in offices either told me I was lucky to be able to work from home or that I was crazy for working from home.
Of the ones who thought I was lucky, I’m sure some pictured it as spending all day in your pajamas, able to do what you want, when you want. While the pajama part is sometimes true I’ve always tried to explain that yes, there’s a certain level of freedom but there’s also an incredible amount of discipline and responsibility required in order to effectively work from home. When you’re at an office setting you don’t have the dirty dishes, dirty laundry, 1001 home improvement projects, media, or any of the other million distractions that face you at home.
The ones who thought I was crazy couldn’t understand how I could survive without actual human interaction, face-to-face, on a daily basis. Not to mention sometimes being in the same room, without leaving the house, for days on end, if I’m on an especially big, time-sensitive project. Aside from the social interaction it was the insecurity, the instability that gave them pause – whether my company succeeded or failed was entirely on my shoulders.
Then the pandemic hit and suddenly the remote worker community tripled in size. My husband luckily has a job he could continue to do from home, as do most of my friends. Out of my close inner circle, 7 out of 12 now prefer to work from home – they absolutely love it. The other 5 are chomping at the bit to get back to their “real” office.
My husband is in the “I love working from home” group – not being stuck in traffic two+ hours a day, he’s able to eat healthier, and he’s started working out during lunch. I’m actually joining him in the exercise routine so his working from home has been positive for me as well. He’s great about reminding me to step away from the computer for at least an hour!
So out of 12 we have 5 ready to go back to their physical office and resume their work life as it was before … but 7 aren’t. Which started me thinking – what are companies going to do about those employees who have proven they are able to work from home and still remain productive and who now want to work from home permanently or at the very least a few days a week?
Granted I’m basing my observations on a very small group and it’s not a valid scientific experiment, but it is thought provoking about what the “new” normal will look like.
Now I’m curious, for all the people who normally drove to their office five+ days a week – what do you think about working remotely? Did you love it? Hate it? How will you react to going back to the “old” way of doing things? How is your company reacting to the situation?