Before
Travel to work, to meetings, to conferences. Travel across campus,
travel across countries, travel time is extra, eating into time, into energy.
In the office, noise, fuss, “Have you got a minute?”, “I’ve
a quick question”, background noise and disruption a constant.
Everything rushed, everything busy, everything fixed and
structured.
Peak Pandemic
Travel to sofa, to the garden, kitchen table commute! Or get
in the campervan, commute to a reservoir or beauty spot to work.
Only office companion, a pet. Sat nearby, watching, calming…
until the post man arrives, the dog’s arch-enemy, and 2 minutes of barking
ensues. Others are on chat, email, Zoom, Teams – they can be silenced and
dipped into when necessary. Accessible, within reach, but not constantly,
distractingly present.
Everything calm, often self-paced, flexible to suit the day.
Back to the Office
Confusion for me – why? For control? Fear of management?
Habit? Might end up a mix of home and office, the worst of both worlds, or the
best? I don’t know… but I fear it’s the worst, how can it be the best without
clarity? Without focussing “office” activities around those that are best
experienced in person? When you also box in and constrain the benefits of home
working, clocking on and off religiously, adapting to fit around others sat in
an office a few miles away?
I fear it might be the worst, perhaps simply because we are
losing the opportunity to create the “best” for work, for the team, for
everyone, because of the unarticulated fears of the organisation. We’re losing
the chance to make the best out of an office environment, and the best out of
homeworking, by hobbling both of them.
