Remember when the notion of working from home was this taboo fantasy? You needed to be in the office to be productive. That was the only way workers could be at their best for 8 hours a day. Then the Coronavirus has shown us otherwise and working in offices may never be the same again. These are the 3 things working from home has revealed to the business world.
You don’t need to be in the office to be productive
The notion that you have to be chained to your desk 8 hours a day in the office to be productive has just been proven to be wrong. You can work from home and just be as equally as productive. How can your receive emails or join a video conference chat working from home? It’s kind of hard now for managers to micromanage you from afar and now look how productive you are. Businesses and managers want you in the office so they can monitor your every move. To ensure you’re working the 8 hours a day they’re paying your for.
You don’t need 8 hour work days
With everyone quarantined thanks to the Coronavirus you now work from home, run a day care and are a home school teacher on top of being a cook, a maid and whatever other hat you wear at home. 8 hour days were from a time past that people couldn’t let go from. And that is like most business or office rules. They’re antiquated and out of touch with reality. And the reality these days is that 8 hour day to do you work you can get done in 2 or 3. Why? Because you’re not going out to the water cooler to socialize or take long lunches. You’re home churning out the work in less time because you don’t have all the office distractions there. Yes you have your kids or pets, but they can help break up your day. The reality is how many of us are really working 8 hours straight every day of the year?
LAck of office politics
Working from home does allow for the office politics to die down quite a bit. No longer is Suzy or Karen whispering at the water cooler about what Mark wore or how Frank had to see the boss because he left his laptop unlocked at his desk. Yes there will people trying to back stab you to move up and ahead, but now they have to do it remotely and with less ammunition since they can’t see what you’re doing every day. Employees can focus on being productive instead of trying to knock each other down for their benefit. The whole meaning of team is that a group of people working together for one common goal. I guess there were as many teams in the office as people once thought but now with everyone at home, it seems that the team spirit is there more.
The Coronavirus definitely changed the office landscape forever. The ideology that working from home is a way to watch soap operas in bed with a bottle of Jack near you is long gone. You don’t need to be in your office to do your job productively and you sure as hell don’t need 8 hours to do it either. Where we go from here is still a mystery, but I’m willing to bet that video conferences with people wearing a dress shirt and pajama bottoms are going to be the new norm from here on out.
