It’s been almost 6 months since I started working from home. 180 Days and nearly all of them have been the same.
I’ve worked from home before, It was great, but that was before I had the daily routine of children. I could switch it up, go for a bike ride, do some music, all without a public health/economic crisis to worry about.
Since March it’s pretty much been a constant rhythm of organising meals, work, and entertaining children, save for the weekend, where the work element gets displaced with just more of the entertaining children stuff.
Everybody talks about the wonders of technology, Zoom, or in our case Teams, but I’d wager this isn’t bringing people together, it’s giving them another excuse to stay apart. Are a pixelated image and a jumpy connection really a substitute for real human communication?
I digress, what’s so bad about working from home? The removal of the commute has meant more free time, yet more time available to be productive. Well, for one there isn’t that disconnect of going for lunch or leaving for the day. At 5 pm it’s much harder to switch off. It’s constant, 24/7 sometimes, everyone is now a whole lot more available.
Then there’s the threat of furlough looming like a dark cloud. I’ve prided myself on never being furloughed, but I worked for it, went over and above for the good of the companies future, my future. I’ve stepped in because I thought I could help, but also to improve my position, my perceived value, like a footballer threatened with the bench.
All things considered, working from home for 6 months with 3 out of school kids for a COVID threatened company during a lockdown hasn’t been easy, and at times I’ve needed to immerse myself in the work element just to forget about everything else, with obvious consequences. But what gives me hope is we’ve made it this far, we’ve got the kids back to school, I kept my job, and we’re still here, unscathed.
How’s your day been? Drop me a comment below or visit the forum.