Take your work home and lose your home to work
What happened to, "Don't take your work home with you" ?
It wasn't that long ago that working remotely was near impossible due to the practical nature of what we did or, the resource requirements of things like filing cabinets for documents, printers and the need for meetings. That has been changing for decades now of course, with "telecommuting" becoming a thing, where companies paid for phone lines so that employees could dial in their work day. Laptops added to the take home work approach, the internet for email and meetings and now - the entire office is expected to be brought home.
Once upon a time, Home was where the heart is. Now it is where the office is. The lack of division between work and personal is difficult for most people at the best of times, now it is likely impossible. Not only that, I would suspect that most people in the world are not set up for effective working from home as they do not have the dedicated space for it, not equipment.
Not only this, I think that we are in a situation where we are now working more while taking up less space, meaning that there is a whole lot of consolidation of area that will take place with office floor cut severely. However, while this will effectively save companies a massive amount, what they are doing is deferring this cost to their employees who must now "convert" areas of their home into offices. Most are just feeling lucky to keep their jobs, but shouldn't there also be a remuneration for this loss of home?
Who is paying for the electricity, the internet, the desk, the office chair, the space, the lack of division? For the most part, it is going to be us. Then there are the logistics of equipment. For example, my headset broke during a training the other day and while this would normally be a quick run to IT, they were remote - so I stole one from a colleagues desk (and let him know as he was remote too) and went on with my day. I have one ordered now, but it will take a few days for me to get it as IT needs to go into the office to do it and leave it for me to pick up, meaning I have to go into the office too - not quite remote. So, the other option could be (if we were all remote) for me to go and buy the headset myself and bill them - another can of worms perhaps and, it means I am now spending my time being my own IT - which I am not getting paid for.
But, what is happening now is not only a wealth transfer, it is also a space transfer, where the corporations can earn more with a smaller footprint, through crowd-sourcing space from their employee base. At the same time, there is a reduction in staff numbers and because people are moving less, all kinds of goods and service sectors will retract and look for their own way to reduce costs. This is a massive opportunity for automation to further solidify its position, meaning that even after there is no longer the "need" to isolate, the systems will be in place so there is no longer the need to return to the way it was.
At least from the people I am surrounded by, there has been an expansion on job responsibility and assumed roles and I think that this is going to go further. Not only are there less people doing more work as individuals, each is having to reorganize their personal lives in order to be able to complete the work, whether it be creating an office of some kind in a home, or changing personal schedules to fit in with work - employment life is changing and due to the "success" of it, there is likely no going back, though there will be some regression to the mean - it is just that the new normal will set the new mean.
What is going to be interesting with this rapid shift in working culture is how everyone deals with it, as while some might be suitable or even empowered by the change, many others prefer stability of environment and will struggle. I personally have a foot in both categories, as I am accustomed to work at home, but prefer to have direct social interaction.
Currently, I have no appropriate space for an office (due to the house renovation) and my back is suffering heavily from sitting on the couch. So, who is responsible for my physical conditions due to work, if I am not actually at work and am using all of my own equipment? It is of course my responsibility as I am the owner of my back and the one who has to live with it, but there is a high potential for all kinds of health related costs that come from less than ideal positions - and while normally this would be covered under work insurance, it might end up being a kick the can down the road for the tab to be picked up by tax payers instead.
I think that the largest issue is going to be in regards to mental health issues, which are already on the rise globally. I believe a degradation in mental health due to environmental stress and effectively removing the division between work and personal life will be on the near horizon, but will have a compounding effect for decades to come.
What I am quite confident about is that while there will be some benefits to what is going on, a lot of the problems are going to be be symptoms of the new way of things and the knock on effects will be large. None of the negatives might have been planned, but the way we handle things will always have consequences, including unintentional repercussions.
While for most of us it is necessary to work in order to meet obligations, it is good to remind ourselves that we are not just passengers and victims. We have the capacity to make our own decisions to improve our personal processes so that we are are better able to cope in the future. Always remember, it is only you who will have to live with yourself your whole life, so it is best to be the best version, even if limited by factors outside of your control.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Our place is offering a few hundred quid to the homeworkers to get kitted out and hopefully I can get a desk and chair - on the couch also at present.
I get the point about home being where the heart is and that there should be a solid work/home separation. At 4pm my work laptop is off - gone are the days when I will put a second more effort in, especially when I’m already at home.
It is good they are offering something, but it doesn't give an extra room. A lot of people have been continually pushed into smaller spaces, and now don't have much extra. The way I see some people sitting in Teams meetings is crazy.
What I find now is that while there is the potential to "drop tools" the normal workday hours don't apply as people tend to start later and expect others are doing the same. This is happening more with customers than colleagues, but it happens internally too.
Yeah. My boss is in a tiny spare room and will soon be relegated to the kitchen table - he's keen to be in the office.
The workday hours haven't changed for me, and one of the advantages is the 45 mins x 2 saved each day with no commute. An hour and a half more time each day weighs off nicely against other disadvantages for me.
The commute saving is good - though it also means I pay for a car to do even less :D
Do you miss seeing people in the office?
A car sitting on the drive doing nothing - the reason I've never owned one :)
I don't miss the office at all. There is some banter in the daily team meeting, that's enough socialising with work colleagues for me.
You can also live in a cheaper location. I like having living in a newer house over twice as large as our old home in Tampere that cost only 20% more.
It depends on personality too.
When I visited London three years ago there was a story in a local paper about professional couples moving out of Greater London because they can't afford a family home there. The increased telecommuting is going to make it much, much worse for Londoners and other people living in big, expensive cities around the world. The largest cities are about to be downsized because of the cramped spaces people are being forced to live in them.
1,600 people commute to Helsinki every day from Lahti out of a working age population of maybe about 60,000. The fastest train connection between Lahti and the main railway station in Helsinki is 51 minutes. The drive (if you observe the speed limit) via the motorway centre to centre takes about 70 to 90 minutes depending on traffic conditions. It's expensive and tiresome. The ideal solution would be to have to do it maybe 2-3 days a week if the other parent works much closer to home.
I wonder how many opportunities will be missed by people staying at home when building relationships matter for all kinds of business arrangements, from client acquisition, employment opportunity to pay raises. Will there be a process much like what has happened on the internet where many people are more disconnected from the community of the business and as a result, will business itself suffer. Oprating costs might be lower, but so might generated book of business.
There will be such an effect. Big cities are big cities for a reason. But the pendulum will swing back if need be.
!ENGAGE 15
ENGAGEtokens.I worked from home for 4 months and then started my parental leave. Everyone was in the state of shock for the first couple of months as nobody knew how to manage this situation. Our management was fairly okay for us to work from home anyway as the policy work we are involved is not considered emergency front line work. We can work from almost anywhere.
Having said that, not having a proper home office was not convenient for me. That's why I invested on my home work space. My office was not ready to give me my office monitors and were also not allowing me to go to the office. The management decided that the employee will be going back to office starting this month. Hopefully, they have arranged proper spacing and safety guidelines to gather everyone in the office space. But I doubt it will be same as before.
I miss my office but I am also happy that I don't have to go to the office. My commute was fairly short- 10 mins walk as I live downtown near the financial district. Working from home due to Covid and the parental leave have given me enough time to learn about crypto. I will not be the same person when I go back to office, when that happens :P
It is annoying to go to the office at the moment because in the flexi spaces - there are hardly any docks and half the monitors are gone :D
What a brilliant opportunity to take - billions of people could have done the same - but probably didn't.
;)
Funny you said that coz our office is being reorganized with the singnages and spaces being restructured to maintain the distancing. It will not be same as before and I hope there will be 50 50 or 70 30 share for working from home option.
I am genuinely glad that I have finally plunged into the crypto world. I am also worried that I may make rookie mistakes in being overexcited to the point where I play by my emotions. Well, I have already done that coz I invested a couple of hundred on dcity and another hundred on Leo just because I am emotionally attached to the blockchain. Let's see. Learning by doing/mistaking I guess 😇
I hope most offices do 50/50 or something. My office doesn't care either way, as long as we get what we need done. We have people who are remote to the point that they are at home above the arctic circle :D
Just don't go to hard on the buying and make sure you by something that has a little more stability for the future too :)
Public service is not up to the point where they can be compared with other services. We are glad that they are considering 70 30 tbh.
I am buying very small stake of btc and eth every month when i think the price is low enough, which i am planning to hold. Hive and leo were emotional gambling.
!ENGAGE 15
ENGAGEtokens.People used to run to their homes from all the toxicity of work! Now though, where are they gonna run from their homes to? </3 ;/
Now they are discovering how toxic their family is!
yep! they did definitely learn something from this pandemic. :)
I agree. I as a rule from one particular experience have learned to never take your work home. Home offices just steal your home from you and turn it into the office. I had a studio apartment in los angeles and became the executive assistant and junior publisher to a guy who headed a entertainment public relations company.
Next thing we know he breaks his lease with the office space and were all working from home. I suddenly got the company server in my apartment a multi phone line system. My hours are 8-6 but now im working literally 24 hours a day. I have assholes from TMZ calling at three am for scoops. My boss calling at ten pm asking me to do one more thing that will only take an hour. Eventually the pavlovian association with work transfered to my apartment and i soon learned to hate my apartment too. It was no longer my home. It had been coopted and corrupted. Even though i moved on to new work eventually the apartment never lost that stigma.
Now its a deal breaker if a company wants to call me off hours and or take my work home. Its wage theft. And its just very disrespectful to me. I wont do it anymore.
Lol! That is crazy!
This is the problem for most for sure. I think that after 7 or so years working from home for myself, it was okay. Working for someone else though and it has changed.
I think that a lot of people (to begin with) will accept it as "I get to keep my job" but, it will change again in time when people wake up from the fear and realize what has actually transpired.
Very interesting story and perspective - Thanks! :)
!ENGAGE 25
I agree that in this day and age you need to make do and that probably calls for working at home. However, its often the case of you give them an inch they take a mile. If there are clear defined boundaries then its not so bad but calling at any time of the night acting like youn own this employee now and they have to jump for the phone at ten pm to do your biding is a no go for me.
Sounds more like a booty call :)
ENGAGEtokens.The only thing I liked in working at home back when I was still a corporate slave was that I don't have to deal with heavy traffic anymore. No more need to rush my meal, shower or anything.
My husband is also not a fan of working from home. Since we don't have a dedicated home office, he works at the dining table, sitting on the dining chair for hours, and get constant distraction from our little kid.
While this is what our new normal is for now, I fear for his well being in the long run. He complains about back pains more often these days. It looks like we're gonna be in this set up longer than anticipated.
My wife has the dining table, I get the floor :D
Yeah, unfortunately it looks like at least in some places, it is going to go on for awhile. I am glad that I am able to go to the office as I choose, but I am pretty sure that they will reduce the floorspace in the future as even after summer, many people have stayed away.
You definetely should take care of your back, uncomfortable sitting on the couch for extended hours will not help for sure.
The mental health is the biggest issue. A lot of people don't know how to make the work at home... Work. There will be ups and downs and a lot of learning in between. For some it is a dream, for some a nightmare. Somehow people will have to adapt.
I also think that the pressures of the world (some people actually fear Covid) as well as the social disruptions going on will put more pressure on people, not to mention the increase in economic hardship for many.
It will be adapt or crash.
I agree. It is indeed fascinating to watch how people behave under various multiple pressures in order to learn how to not
There are a lot of issues with work from home/telecommuting. People are learning some of the cost and the benefits of it. Do the benefits outweigh the cost? I myself do not think so. You are at work, you trip and fall over an extension cord breaking your wrist. If in an office environment workman's compensation would kick in. At home your problem.
There is also the coworker and boss intrusions into your at home life. Work space inspections to see if you have adequate equipment, possible second line for work only, and now available 24 7.
Some will adapt, some will not. Huge cost savings for the company though.
The insurance is an interesting one and a lot of companies have already updated their policies.
For some, this will be brilliant, for many it is going to be painful.
When younger and just staring work, I thought work from home would be great, then for 6 months I had to carry a medical style beeper around and be accessible 24/7. My view on work from home was then solidified back in the 80's. It was something that I was no longer interested in.
I think for a lot of people the idea of travel for work is the same - until it becomes a common event.
Excellent topic! I am a literature teacher and many of the works I use are not digitalized, so I have had to lend my books. In Venezuela the internet is fatal and can be expensive for most people, so it is uphill to give classes at a distance. In these days the internet bill came to the house and was almost unpayable. The university doesn't pay for my books and it doesn't pay for my internet bill, and I doubt that it will pay if any equipment is damaged. While it is true that we professors used to take jobs home to review, with this new modality some lines are dangerously being disguised and transgressed. For example, a student was doing a consultation on a Sunday night at 11pm and although I don't like being unfriendly, I let him know that I was not available. If we don't set limits, there may come a time when there is no privacy of space and no intimacy of space. Greetings and good Friday, @tarazkp
This is the problem as while there used to be exceptions - if the exception is repeated enough, it becomes the rule.
Hopefully things will straighten out in time, but also, I hope things don't go back to the way they were.
I feel that we can work from our homes, but if we put a stop to the time ... I explain, if we divide well the family time, recreation time, and if we get used to leave the house many times... because if we spend all the time locked up generates a lot of anxiety and stress... which is something that at least is avoided with the fact of having to leave the house to work.
I also feel that this will benefit us all more in the future, since we can have a permanent job full time, and if at some point we have nothing to do in that work, we can move forward with personal projects or manage our time as we please.
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Actually if you have an actual home office (must be a separate room tho), you can probably deduct certain amounts of your utilities from your taxes. Even of your rent or an equivalent thereof if you’re owner.
We will see many changes to WFH over the next few years. In more advanced societies all those issues will be taken in consideration and we will see evolutions like have begun in recent years with restrictions on when employers/managers can mail their team. This has been most prevalent so far among German companies and French culture is probably also one of those who will jump in earliest as it is more cultural there that “Feierabend” is truly end of work and the French, well they love their time off. They still lead the race for the four days working week.
Yes, it is possible but it probably requires an accountant too. I have one for my business, but most don't. I am not sure how "automatic" it is.
It will sort out for many, for many others they are going to suffer. In Finland, the apartments (like lots of Europe) can be quite tiny and everyone works. Having a on bedroom place with a working couple is going to be difficult.
Most countries usually have a default amount which can be deducted OR a percentage. The former is easier but unless it’s a small location, the latter is usually closer to reality but may require an accountant.
Finland and Western Europe are fine. Eventually they will impose limits on communication times. Good luck for those in the sweatshops of the gentrified globalized world’s belly.
That one time I worked for an employer last decade, I once had the CDO tell me the next day he was “surprised” I didn’t’t reply to his 10PM email until the next morning. I said that at 8PM my notifications go OFF and unless real emergencies — it wasn’t — I do not reply since I generally put in more hours than hired for already. He didn’t seem too satisfied with that but he had “headhunted” me himself and in the role of EIR so there wasn’t much he could say. Made me wonder how he dealt with lower rank and file though. And that was even not an outsourcing company.
Having tried to rally students not to move to those corporations and behemoths, I can tell plenty of stories I’ve heard of people who eventually went to work for them. No money in the world could recruit me for any of those companies ruled by HR. Those people aren’t just poorly paid...
The default is not really enough here - better than nothing though.
My wife used to be an assistant for a minister and unlike the stereotype, he was the first one up and the last one to bed. However, he never expected his team to do the same - unless something very important was going on and even then, it was opt-in. There are differences in bosses.
A very relevant article. Mental health has really suffered a lot. Panic, provoked decompensation in almost everyone, who suffers from neuroses of one kind or another. In addition, the number of new anxiety disorders in previously healthy individuals has increased significantly.
I think it is going to be a huge economic and social cost in the future.