Rozina Asif
AS a result of COVID-19 global pandemic, working from home seems to be the future of many organizations. Google and Facebook are planning to work from home until 2021. Twitter is allowing employees to work from home forever. Many other large companies have the same plans to fight with Coronavirus and adapt to this new way of working.
Office works, daily monotonous routine to get ready at a fixed time, whether you are in good mood or not, you have to join a long time-wasting meeting for the sake of same old discussions, same old office politics, sitting inside four solid walls till the end, even if you have finished your work and above all tolerating the boss’s mood, are a few common excuses from people working in the office. But in the long run, those who have built up their careers from the same office environment will be going to miss this a lot. They will miss the office as a social hub, where they meet so many like-minded people.
We spend a key time of our day in our offices, and nowadays many of our relations are an extension of this office colleagueship. The benefits of office life are more than just being a social hub. It is very important for intellectual growth too, unlike work from home, you interact with people in the office for meetings, for sharing ideas, for lunch or coffee, and you are sharing your knowledge and your intellect with them and learning as well simultaneously.
When you observe other people’s working, you learn so many good and simple ways of doing things which were very complicated for you. At times creativity is triggered by just a small joke cracked by an associate when you feel overburdened. These are a few of the many indirect ways of training and learning from people through face to face interaction. Overall office environment which is not possible in “work from home” will determine the productivity level and formula of synergy do wonder.
Not considering video conferencing, face-to-face communication is something you only get in an office space. It’s not only beneficial when you are planning, but it strengthens relationships and rapport with other employees. There’s something about relationship-building that happens when you sit next to someone or bump into each other at the coffee machine. Direct and quick feedback from the boss or colleagues makes things easier while working from home, you don’t get the responses immediately which psychologically hinders your performance and results in unnecessary pressure and anxiety.
You start over thinking and at times you come to a conclusion very astray from the reality which ends up in the communication gap and hinders efficient working and the output will eventually be affected. Speaking from a broader spectrum, office politics will increase when you wouldn’t have to directly answer to anyone and no one is cross-questioning your work while you’re working in isolation. Your output is mainly directed to your boss and in many cases, not everyone is involved to evaluate it which otherwise is met through indirect observers.
Another very important thing that the new generation will miss, if “work from the office” will be replaced by virtual offices, is the daily routine and discipline. Getting ready for office, taking care of outfits and personal grooming are itself a blessing of working from the office. Greetings and meeting culture, smiles, warmth, and celebrations are the source of motivation. These daily practices become habits and reflect in your home chores and relationships too.
Everyone has some ups and downs in their life, going out of that boundaries and spending time in an environment with healthy working culture will make you forget your worries for the time being, and it gives you more energy to solve your problems as you can trust people more when you interact with them physically instead of having virtual relations.
—The writer is an educationist based in Islamabad.