Back to the Office: Did You Find What You Were Looking For?
As the title of the famous novel tells us, “You Can’t Go Home Again.” But as this confinement enters a new phase I’m tempted to paraphrase it by asking “can we go to the office again?”
For those of us lucky enough to be able to work remotely over the last couple of months, it’s no exaggeration to call it an ordeal. Makeshift home offices, children video-bombing Zoom meetings, spotty internet bringing productivity to a screeching halt, the ungodly amount of time I’ve spent in yoga pants, and through it all the nagging question few have the time or courage to ponder: will things ever be the same?
And while everyone’s experience has been different, (my husband, four kids and I have been holed up in the countryside of Sancerre with our closest neighbors being cows and chickens) the shared experience has been, to say the very least, a challenge unique to our times. I can’t complain, many people have reached out to say they’ve been thinking of us- they say how hard it has been with one or two children and they just can’t imagine how we’re coping with four. Well the answer has been: strict schedules, routines, rules, organization and also a good dose of accepting that it will all go to hell when we’re just too exhausted.
But now, with the confinement technically over where we are, we should be able to get back to the office right? RIGHT? When the reopening announcement came, I went to my go-to HR community for insight on how to plan. I needed their collective help, seeing as my only non-digital companions over the past two months have been my family and, well, cows. I heard the reopening news, I just couldn’t properly process it.
And yet, much like being unexpectedly quarantined in the country with four young boys, the answer once again seemed to be: strict schedules, routines, rules, and organization. The HR folks were full of ideas, documenting procedures, making signs, and marking the office floors. For me, the whole idea of returning sounded surreal, and I couldn’t help thinking “I hope it won’t all go to hell when I get exhausted.”
But, exhausted or not, the show must go on, and plus, nothing cures worry like work. I penned a procedure, took a survey of the mood and different needs of our employees, and got to work on my signs. I assembled a task force for each office to rearrange desks and get the signs posted, made booking of desk space possible, and blasted the news to the team. Bam- we were ready for business. Or were we?
When the survey results started to come in, and I was tackling the tricky issue of how to prioritize those who needed the space more than others, something unexpected happened. Only 16% of our Critizr employees were actually ready to go back to the office. Their reasons were varied, some had childcare issues, others were concerned about tricky public transportation, but bottom line, the vast majority of employees communicated that they wanted to continue to work from home.
On the day the task force completed the setup in the office, I had a long call to debrief with one of my colleagues. She explained her feelings after that day, and even though she was among the 16% that wanted to get right back to work, spending the day in the office changed her mind. She said she felt sad. The work environment seemed too empty to her, void of the social element we’ve been craving all spring. Though the office will be open, it seems pretty clear that we won’t find what we’re looking for by going back to it- at least not immediately.
So what is the answer? For me, for now, probably more schedules, routines, rules, and organization. Will it be a challenge to move forward, ever uncertain if things will really be the same? Of course. But working for a startup, THAT’S WHAT WE DO. We think of ways to do things differently. For a living. One answer for me, for now, is, as we look back at confinement, to ask each other with clear heads “What did we do that worked?” and “How much of that can we continue?” And when I recall the virtual culture we were able to build almost from scratch, from morning video meetings to virtual interactive pub quizzes to online children’s costume contests, there are a lot of fond memories there. I saw brave people, responding to an unprecedented situation with improvisation, problem solving, humor and grace.
Though I know we can keep up this virtual culture and have the fortune to be able to operate from home, it’s vital to me that we don’t abandon the idea of a future when we’re all back gathered around the coffee machine or enjoying a drink and laughs after work. Just because we CAN all work from home permanently, why should we? When the tech giants announced their prolonged and even permanent work from home policies, I was shocked. Back when working from home was a very forward thinking and shocking policy, I would have been impressed by these announcements, but after the confinement, I understand more than ever that I NEED my intellectual equals and I NEED people to stimulate me and inspire me, ideally in person. The virtual companionship has just not been enough for me.
So I will be keeping my faith that we will go back to “normal” and soon enough- but we will also adapt from what we’ve learned. While permanently working from home will be a thing of the past, at least for us at Critizr, I’m predicting right now that maintaining virtual work cultures going forward will be part of the new normal. And not because this virus has somehow irrecoverably wounded us. Because virtual work cultures are useful. And useful not just for flattening the curve of a global pandemic, but useful to lots of people with all kinds of different challenges from employees with kids, those who may have a disability, or anyone struggling with illness affecting either themselves or a loved one. And as the technology and innovation continues to evolve, virtual office culture will continue to adapt to challenges we haven’t even anticipated yet. So as we emerge from isolation, bleary-eyed and hoping to return to the way things were, know that it will take time, but we will get there. And we can use what we have made to continue learning, continue growing, and most importantly work towards a new way of working together in the future both in the office, and via Zoom.
