Why do I see “Return to Work” a great deal?
My Personal Experience of Return to Office after 2 Years
In the last two years, the world has witnessed a great shift in terms of human lifestyle, thinking, and mindset. Covid 19 will be remembered as one of the significant events that happened across the globe. For many people, life is not the same as before. There are thousands of write-ups on how Covid changed people’s life. I am not going to repeat the same. But I would like to share my personal experience of how I feel about returning to the office.
With the other business, the corporate world around the world experienced a paradigm shift in how they were operating before and after Covid. Work from home is a global phenomenon now from a small companies to the largest of all. Few companies even go further and announce lifetime work from home. Many employees started enjoying working from home, being close to family, taking care of small needs, and maintaining a work-life balance. Even I was used to this work culture.
Human minds always need a change and even work-from-home scenarios started becoming monotonous for some people. I started feeling to take a break from working from home and wanted to go to the workplace. But due to ongoing waves of the corona at that point in time, companies maintain the same cautiousness for the return to work. It was almost 2 years, I was not stepping out of home for office work and it was going quite dull. I started remembering the good old days of being at the office. But at the same time, I feel grateful that I can support my family whenever there is a need without hampering my work schedule.
A few months back, my company flexed its muscle and started implementing a hybrid work model and giving employees the flexibility to choose the new culture. Many employees opted for the continuation of working from home but I preferred the hybrid model. 15 days of working from home and then 15 days from the office. I started feeling quite good being into these new norms and experiencing what we as employees were missing.
There are a few significant positive experiences that I am going to share today.
- You got to meet people.
We, humans, are social animals. We need people to share our views and thoughts. By talking, and sharing with friends, we feel happy and light. The same feeling I experienced when I started going to work. I got to meet people after so many years, we got to share our stories. I felt my happiness level go up.
2. In-person work discussion.
There is a lot of difference between discussing any work-related topic over the phone, online, and in person. The last one wins the race. You get to understand easily what the opposite person tries to explain. You get to see that all the participants are equally involved which is missing in a digital meet.
3. Boost small businesses and services.
I could see many small businesses, like restaurants, shops, taxi services, and cleaning services picking up from the losses they incur during covid times. They keep sharing their stories about how difficult their lives were when the offices were closed. Their business will grow when employees start coming to the office.
4. Uninterrupted working time.
It is observed some employees take advantage of the WFH arrangement and take their usual work for granted. Or even some people, with kids and limited working space at home have to face interruptions during work. When I started coming to the office, I felt my productivity has gone up. I get an uninterrupted working atmosphere where I can concentrate fully.
Having said a few good experiences, I must say WFH has been a boon for many employees, especially new moms who do not have to keep their kids outside and they can be anytime available when babies need them. I appreciate all such working moms who have been balancing working and parenting life smoothly.
I urge companies to go for a hybrid model of working and give employees the flexibility to choose between work and home. Business needs are always on the top of the list though.