Back in 2020 when lockdown was first implemented, I wrote a blog (People who need people) about working from home and said that the thing I missed most was other people. I mentioned how grateful I was for communication tools such as Zoom for maintaining a connection with people.
Six months later I blogged again about how I was now finding that the pros to working from home outweighed the cons. I felt my work/life balance was vastly improved as I was no longer tired from my commute.
So here we are in 2023, and everything has changed again. For a while now, I’ve been enjoying hybrid working. I still work from home some days, but I work on campus too. I’ve always been a ‘people person’. I enjoy my own company just fine, but only to a certain point. Truth be told, however, I had almost forgotten this about myself. With my family out at work all day, I was spending a lot of time alone, and I had convinced myself that I was quite content with that. Peace and quiet and no distractions from work. Perhaps I was no longer a ‘people person’.
When the time came that we were allowed to start heading back to the office, I was reluctant. I had become accustomed to my new way of working, I can do the whole job just as effectively from home as from in the office, and there’s no commute, so it seemed pointless to me to head back to the office. This notion reinforced for me that perhaps I no longer needed to be around people the way I used to.
I’m pleased to report I was wrong. The first day that I worked back on campus I had expected to be exhausted at the end of the day, however I in fact came home feeling refreshed and invigorated! Although using Zoom has been a fantastic way to keep a connection with my colleagues, it can’t replace all the little interactions that happen throughout a day with other people that you don’t directly work with. Just today for example, I crossed paths with a colleague I haven’t seen in person in three years. It was only a few minutes of chat whilst making a coffee, but it was wonderful to have an unplanned conversation that wasn’t tagged on the end of a scheduled meeting.
Another bonus to my new working situation is that I’m hotdesking at a bank of bookable desks, so I never know who might be sitting beside me from one day to the next. This brings huge variety to my working week and gives me the opportunity to meet new people as well as catch up with folk I already know.
At present, I work on campus both when it’s required, and when I choose to. This gives me flexibility and I feel very fortunate to have these options. It shows a level of trust in me from my manager that no matter where I am located, I will deliver what is expected of me in my role. This sort of trust brings out the best in me and makes me want to go the extra mile (figuratively and literally I suppose!) Having worked on site full time for many years, I was quite happy doing so. Having experienced this alternative option now, however, I would be most reluctant to go back to the old way. Working from home some days allows me to save some money on travel, reduce my carbon footprint and spend more time with my family. All these things contribute to a happier, more rested version of me who has more energy when on campus to make a positive contribution to my organisation.
The positive impact that hybrid working has had on my mental health is priceless. I still enjoy the benefits of working from home for part of the week, so I’m still not as tired as I used to be when I commuted five days a week, and I’m still grateful for communication tools like Zoom and Teams for providing the ability to see people’s faces when connecting online, making the connection more meaningful. The difference now is that I also get to enjoy the mental stimulation that comes from interacting with more people in the flesh, whilst still having all the tools at my disposal to carry out my role effectively. I feel very fortunate to have an employer who provides this opportunity.
Turns out I’m still a ‘people person’ after all!
