Back in the office

Yesterday afternoon I packed up my home work station and shifted back to the office. Today is was my first day working back at my desk since 23 March.

I've had 2 months, 1 week and 2 days working from home. It feels strange being back in the office. As yet there aren't many people but my whole team is back. Next week I'll start catching the bus again which will be another frontier.

It's certainly an adjustment being back in the office - signs and hand sanitiser everywhere, more hand washing, people, open plan, thinking about what I wear, and the commute. My back almost sighed with relief to be back at an ergonomic desk and chair, where I can sit or stand.

Bill Gates or whoever can go on about how many people will work from home. Maybe.

It's not new, people have been doing it for 15 years or more. It definitely works in some situations. For any business with employees, having staff working from home involves a high degree of trust.

We've used a virtual meeting tool for years because most of our customers are overseas or in other parts of NZ. Or, everyone has occasionally workes from home for various reasons and attended a meeting virtually.

You can email, Slack message, Zoom, GoToMeeting, 3CX phone or video all you like but it doesn't fully replace face to face.

You do miss the body language nuance, the quick popping over to a colleagues desk to check something, and team/company culture is harder to maintain.

Depending on your role some software and systems can be more probematic working remotely. At home I worked both logged into my work computer and running some software locally on my laptop.

For businesses who rent office space it's probably different too, compared to businesses who own their building.

I will adjust. I'm grateful that I have a job where I can work from home if needed. Actually, I'm just grateful to have a job.

Anyway, my colleague is no longer Jasper. I can high 5 with him but not my colleagues.

Today's gratitude: For the warm welcome from my colleagues.