Home sweet home

Written by Jordan Hayward

Growing up watching countless zombie like movies of an apocalyptic nature; viruses striking everyone down in their path, cities becoming overgrown, isolated and ghostly, I could never imagine something of this sought would happen in my lifetime. Okay, this may not be apocalyptic but here we are in the year of 2020 where the world has been put to a standstill from Covid-19.

Whilst the detrimental impact of Covid-19 is very clear; lives have been lost, businesses forced to close, unemployment rates at an all-time high and society has been distanced. I cannot help but to look forward, maybe on a more positive note, to see what the future holds for us working post Covid-19.

In this time of social distancing offices have had to close their doors, resulting in the majority of office workers, including myself, having to work from home. However, as the restrictions and lockdown finally start to ease, the questions that I have been asked by both clients and candidates is will this new way of work be the new norm.

Don’t get me wrong I have always enjoyed the office environment, and to have that taken away from me over the last 2 months has been an adjustment. The familiarity of showing up to an office, and the sanity of socialising with colleagues on a daily basis has been something that I wouldn’t want to replace with a fully remote role. Nevertheless, I see a positive step towards the future of work, which unfortunately may have taken a pandemic to realise, and, as this shift happens technology will play an ever-increasing important role in the matter.

Throughout this unusual time and upon reflection, working from home is presenting both opportunities and problems. I have come to appreciate the little things which you possibly didn’t before - maybe I will stop dreading the Monday alarm and appreciate actually leaving the house to go to work.

Working from home has been new, exciting and all in all an interesting experiment for me. Whilst my commute is limited compared to others it gave me a better opportunity to balance work life, reduced commuting time, and I guess a little more flexibility. I think the take home point is that whilst working from home suits people for different reasons, balance is key.

My question for you guys is, how will you operate post Covid and would you like to continue this work from home culture we have been forced to adopt?