Surely I’m not the only person who enjoys working from home. When the pandemic is over will we have to go back to in person, or could it stay this way indefinitely?
With coronavirus still in full swing, millions of Americans are still being urged to work from home. What many are finding is that this new lifestyle of working from a spare room or even the couch is suitable. Without any sort of large survey or study it’s fair to say that the majority of people actually prefer working from home to in an office.
Offices Are Unnatural Settings
When you think about it too hard a lot of jobs and careers are strange in nature, but what’s even stranger is the office setting. For years many of us have been forced from our homes to come to work in a space that’s close to our coworkers. For people who are super-outgoing and extroverted, this might be enjoyable (probably not), but for the other half of us who gather our energy from alone time, working in an office can be especially draining.
Fluorescent lights and bare minimum attempts to make offices feel “homey” are also something I’ve always found off putting. In attempts to save money on overhead, businesses put in the cheapest lighting solutions, appliances, and toilet paper possible. I’ve often found this minimalist approach to work decor strange, especially considering we spend 24% of our lives at work (assuming you’re in the office 8 hours a day, five days a week).
9 to 5 is Antiquated
There have been studies done that provide evidence people don’t do their best work when working in a time based way. It makes sense, if you’re on the clock you may be more enticed to draw out what you’re doing as to get paid more or to not have to take on another project that day.
For a lot of us, the solution to this is to work in a more event-based way. If you know you’ll be “done working” when you actually finish your work it makes more sense to you to complete that work (correctly the first time) with a sense of urgency. As humans, one of the biggest incentives we have, outside of monetary gain, is being handed our free time back.
Working eight hours a day just doesn’t feel like it makes sense anymore. Most of us don’t work jobs that necessitate we’re in the office for eight hours, so why are we still doing that?
Working From Home is Less Costly to Businesses
Working from home costs businesses way less than owning or renting an office space, filling it with furniture, and keeping everyone comfortable. With an in person location, businesses have to pay all sorts of expenses that we don’t even think about. Insurance, AC, heat, electricity, provided lunches, the list goes on and on. They can easily avoid those costs simply by having employees work from their couches.
We’ve Already Had Our WFH Trial-Run
We’ve completed our trial run of working from home, and for most people it’s gone well. Sure, zoom sucks, but they’re improving slowly but surely. There are also alternatives to what feels like the only option for video conferencing. Let’s be honest though, a lot of meetings feel like a waste of time.
So, the question remains- when the pandemic is over will we continue working from home or will we be forced back into offices? Do you want to/like working from home or do you want to go back to in-person work?
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