I Keep Hearing That Working From Home Is The Future — And It Bugs Me to No End
By: Alice Audie
Tags: Covid 19, Work, Home, Mental Health, Self

Remember how, just until prior to the whole COVID-19 predicament, a lot of employers seemed to be firmly planted in their conviction that workers at home are not to be trusted? That they must be slacking off because, apparently, they have no self-control, let alone a desire to actually earn their salary?

Yup.

And suddenly — less than a year after — these same employers are telling us that working from home is the future and that they are considering leaving their office spaces behind for good.

The way I see it, there are two possibilities as to why. Either some employers are genuinely convinced that working from home is the wish of every single worker — and thus, now that company policy allows it, we might as well just all switch, because we all agree — right? Or — more likely, in my opinion — they realized they can fully get rid of the significant expenditure of renting office space, buying toilet paper, office supplies, coffee, and what have you. Of course, that can only be pulled off if every single employee works from home. Or, well, from anywhere except the office.

But here comes the catch — not everyone is into this whole working from home business. In fact, most friends and coworkers I’ve spoken to — people who had no prior experience as, say, freelancers — expressed that they would want to go back to the office sooner than later.

And I agree wholeheartedly.

I miss being around people. I need to see others puttering around the office, I need to be able to go pick up a coffee with a colleague, to sit on a sofa and chat, or just reposition myself every hour just to freshen up my environment. Doesn’t matter if I wear headphones through it all. The mere presence of others working beside me is both calming and inspiring.

Also, I live in an apartment that Google tells me is the equivalent of 215sqft. That’s tiny. I’ll go nuts staying here. And I don’t know about most people, but my chances to escape home would be slim to none. Where else could I go if not my office? Add to that the fact that, if you deal with confidential data or need reliable Internet all day as I do, you can’t really be sitting on some public wi-fi hotspot in a hip café (post-Corona, clearly).

While on that topic — I’ve had crazy anxiety about my Internet connection failing on me. If my domestic network fails and I can’t get into the meeting, it’s pretty much my problem to solve. When something like that happens in an office, no employee is under any real pressure — except maybe for the one who is in charge of keeping that connection up and running. But it’s mostly the company’s problem.

I just detest the concept of being liable for so much more while getting paid the same and slowly eroding my mental health as the line between life and work deteriorates. There is a myriad of reasons why someone’s personal space might not be conducive to work.

As I’ve mentioned — my own place is tiny, cramped, my desk is two steps away from my bed, and of course, there’s no company. Someone else’s home will have different limitations. What I have, that a lot of employers seem not to, is the awareness that everyone has challenges I have no idea about. That applies to WFH.

It’s not even only about the work part. Home used to be my sacred space — where I took care of myself and could wind down after the day’s challenges. Now it has become the place where I’m stressed more often than not. As nice as it is to be at the office, it’s just as nice to be able to leave it at the end of the day.