The view into Jon’s Garden
As lockdown eases and gcp makes a part time return to the office, in small socially distancing work bubbles, what have I learnt from the experience?
First of all, it has reaffirmed that I need separation between my working and non-working life. The ability to work from home has led to the collapse of my work / home boundaries. What might have started out as working from home very quickly transformed into a feeling of living at work. It has only been the lack of phone calls and meetings that has distinguished the weekends from the working week. If working from home is to be a long-term part of my future, then I need to find a better work / life balance.
Secondly, working at home has been isolating at times. Bouncing ideas off people or sharing a problem is something that happens spontaneously in the office. When you need to arrange a meeting or make a phone call in order to speak to colleagues, it is often easier not to. Running jobs and coordinating projects with colleagues has proved my biggest challenge during lock down. The phrase ‘herding cats’ comes to mind. I had not appreciated just how important the casual catch up in the office was. Not only does this allow progress to be checked easily, but it facilities a more productive dialogue between colleagues.
There are however some positives that I can take from the experience. The only part of my work / life balance that I have got right is lunchtime. Gone is my office routine of sandwiches at my desk. There is nothing I have enjoyed more during these last three months than eating my lunch in the garden, and the glorious weather of early lockdown certainly helped. And my colleagues might be surprised to hear that it has not always been a cheese sandwich!
There are also benefits to holding meetings via video conferencing. There are times going forward when being in the same room will be beneficial, but too many times in the past I have driven for an hour to a meeting that has barely lasted half an hour, and probably wasn’t necessary anyway. Lockdown has shown us that these meetings can take place as a video conference, which not only means that the workday is more productive, but reduced travel benefits the environment. Speaking of the environment, I’ve managed to get by at home without printing as many drawings or e-mails as I deemed necessary in the office. Maybe fewer trees will be sacrificed in the name of my job.