Exactly 6 months ago, the company I am working for decided to dismiss everyone into working from home (where applicable) to prevent any Covid19 cases in our offices.
Lets take a short recap on how my working life has changed.
Starting Position
So, who am I and what am I doing?
I am working in the IT department of a big company (>20.000 employees) in Austria as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Application Manager.
My daily work includes a lot of talking, troubleshooting relevant applications and a bit of coding. All of them are tasks that can be easily done from home.
I have/had a neat office in the heart of Vienna with nice colleagues and free coffee around me. So basically, nothing to complain about.
First Weeks
I had one or two days of home office on a regular basis before the current situation, so it was not really something new. Things went as usual:
Getting up > Starting the laptop > Working > Switching off the laptop > Starting the PC > Gaming / Working / Netflix > Go back to bed
Rinse and Repeat.
The first insight came after 2 weeks or so and has been triggered by my back pain. Not only sitting 10-12h per day in front of a comupter but also sitting on a quite cheap chair took its toll.
Take a note here: Do NOT be chinzy when buying a chair for your office
A friend of mine recommended me a chair from Secret Lab.
I did not hesitate too long, spent ~400€ and 2 weeks later I enjoyed beeing seated like never before. Back pain adieu!
Luckily, as a gamer a must, I already had a dual monitor setup at home. Colleagues who don't are already complaining staring at their 16" notebook for 8h a day is... tiresome... to say at least.
The Months Are Passing By
Initially, the "order" was to work from home just for the next weeks until the Covid situation gets better. By now, we know that nothing got better at all. In fact it got worse. The current plan is to stay in home office for the rest of 2020.
It actually hit me like a truck realizing that I did not enter my actual office for 6 months now. I hope someone fed the hamster?!
Kidding, we don't have any (known) pets in the office ;)
But still. I haven't seen any of my colleages for 6 months. No come together for a coffee or a common lunch. If I wouldn't been married I would have hardly any social contacts. That is tough - even for a nerdy gamer like me.
I also gained 5kg weight due to lack of movement. I am still kinda sporty though, so it wont be an issue any time soon. But still.
But I am going to lie. I still enjoy the work from home regulations. I am saving about 1,5h commuting per day. Cooking my own food is cheaper then buying it at my favourite Asia restaurant. (I miss you Happy Noodles).
AND I can sleep longer and still work over time.
Internal studies have already shown that the productivity as well as the work-life-balance has improved in almost every aspect.
From an economical perspective an absolute win!
From a social perspective not so much...
What are your thoughts on working from home?
Do you have any experience in working from home over a longer time period?
Let us know in the comments.
I almost always work from home, so no change really for me :) Glad you fixed the back pain, another suggestion is a standing desk to have options for working positions. I stand most of the day and then I use a standing chair here and there when getting a bit lazy. Combine that with some dance steps while blasting music during work hours and you'll be fit as a fiddle!
Going outside some of the breaks is a must when working from home. Having a dog makes this easy, but obviously not a sole purpose for getting a dog.
Yeah, a standing desk is on my list, but the better ones are quite expensive. At least those we have in our offices are 1000€ and above :-/
I went with IKEAs cheap version with a manual crank instead of an electric motor haha.
Another IT worker here. I work regularly from home for now. The lack of water cooler talk is a bit of a nuisance.
I think a lot of people are struggling with the lack of interaction. Without work to meet people every day your circle closes in very fast which can be quite depressing.
Hopefully it won't last forever as we need to be out and about.
Perfect photo
I was sent home for 5 weeks and I can't do any work from home, so I was off for 5 weeks with salary and no work :p
Jackpot! :D
Ye not bad haha! :D
I feel sorry for you, speaking from my perspective. We worked from home for two months. From then onward we are free to decide whether we will come to the office or work from home. Baring some special events or days when office presence is mandatory.
I had a different experience with my efficiency while working from home. It is much different when the whole family is at home. YOur working day is broken into chunks and your working hours become longer with less work done.
@tipu curate
Yeah, some colleagues with younger children had similar issues.
Beeing present in the office is still only in special cases allowed. Like major incidents or so :/
Brought to you by @text2speech. If you wish to convert your post text to speech then reply YES or NO.