Working from Home Has Run Its Course
The idea of working from home before COVID-19 was a luxury… now, working from home sucks.
As a disclaimer, I’d like to start this blog post by saying that I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to work from home. I personally know individuals that have had their hours cut or are out of work because of COVID. I have witnessed firsthand how detrimental that has been for them. With that said, working remotely has presented new issues that did not exist prior to working in the office. Although there are some clear benefits to working remotely, today’s blog will uncover the top three things that suck about working from home (from the perspective of a current college student).
1) Human interaction (or lack thereof)
As an extroverted individual, the hardest thing about working remotely has been the lack of face-to-face interactions. This is because I personally value maintaining great relationships with my colleagues (and now friends), which has been a lot harder to do remotely. Instead of grabbing coffee, lunch, or simply having casual conversations about life in the office, we are now limited to virtual conversations. Not physically being in the office has also made daily tasks a little more challenging. Before, I could simply walk down the hall of the office whenever I needed to ask one of my colleagues a question. Now, this process looks much different due to virtual communication channel delays and scheduling conflicts. Questions that used to take 5-minutes to get answered can potentially take days. Additionally, virtual conversations have a tendency to disconnect or freeze which makes the interaction less real. Sadly, it’s just not the same.
2) Pesky distractions
Before COVID, I could confidently say that I was never interrupted during a meeting for work. However, that quickly changed during my first week of remote work all because my mom didn’t know how to find a show she recorded on TV (don’t worry, I still love you mom). This is just one example of the many distractions that I have faced as a result of working from home. I’m sure you can relate to some degree. Interestingly enough, one study shows it takes on average 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back into the swing of things after you have been interrupted. If you are not going back to the office anytime soon, I recommend you get a pair of noise-canceling headphones!
3) Never leaving the house
I knew when I mistook a Monday for Saturday that something was wrong. All of my days feel the same. Wake up. Open my laptop. Work from home. Attend school from home. Watch TV.
Sleep. Repeat. If you find yourself in a similar situation, do yourself a favor and get out! If you need some inspiration, here are some ideas:
· Go out for a walk or jog several times a week.
· Take your furry friend(s) to the park.
· Explore some new bike trails.
· Pack the vehicle and go see a drive-in movie.
· Go camping.
· Go on a hike.
· Go fishing.
· Go visit a drive-thru zoo
As much as I enjoy the freedom of being able to roll out of bed at 7:58 AM, brush my teeth, throw on a hat, and be in front of my computer at 8 AM, the novelty has run its course.