Remember how envious we were of people that used to work from home prior to the pandemic? What about all those “work from anywhere you want” ads that presented the perfect work-life balance?
The truth of the matter is that the traditional office setup wasn’t ideal. Having to be at the office for so many hours was never reflecting or serving the needs of the modern person. Some people like to sleep an extra hour or two in order to perform better. Others have kids to look after, doctors to visit and parents to attend to. Life is packed with obligations and activities that you simply can’t do after you leave the office.
Well, guess what? The remote work wish has been granted and even though it took a global pandemic to enforce it, here we are.
Remember the saying, watch what you wish for because you might actually get it? In the early stages of this pandemic, people were relishing the opportunity to work from the comfort of their own homes. They could cook any time they wanted, take a break, eat, dress how they pleased, take a shower and even have Netflix playing in the background.
As the months rolled on and the novelty of working from home started to gradually wear off, people suddenly became aware of the many challenges of turning your home into an office. Here are some of the challenges people had to face:
- How do you stay organized when you are not in the office?
- How do you manage your time between work and personal life?
- Do you take the breaks you need or does being at home create the illusion you don’t need them?
- How do you ensure you don’t switch off and stay motivated?
- Collaboration with colleagues becomes harder
- Does the absence of social interaction negatively affect you?
Reports of relationships going through rough patches or even home-abuse surfaced in the news, showcasing that the dream of working from home is not as ideal as one might have thought. Much like every situation in life, it needs management and it has both positives and negatives.
The pandemic forced the remote work scenario upon everyone. While it was great as a change, we have come to realize that as social animals, people need other people and businesses are better served when they have high functioning teams.
Working from home is the new reality and the challenge for business is to balance the necessity of working from home with the challenges it brings with it. How do you keep the team spirit high? How do you ensure there is communication and that people remain productive?
The answer to this question will be given somewhere in 2021 as well will all be taking part in this new setup, in this new version of our professional lives. Let’s try and make the most of this.
By Natalia Bredneva Konstantinides
