Working From Home

 

7 Things You Might Soon Miss About Working From Home

1. Wardrobe confidential

"Your wardrobe choices are so simple and easy. When you're going back to work, you actually do care about Do these shoes work with this outfit? When you're on Zoom you can wear the same thing every day for a month, and no one would really notice,” says workplace expert Chester Elton, coauthor of Anxiety at Work: 8 Strategies to Help Teams Build Resilience, Handle Uncertainty, and Get Stuff Done.

2. Work/life blending

Becky Melvin, 59, did gig work during the pandemic after she left her job as director of book publicity at a major publisher. She delivered groceries to earn some money while she figured out what was next. And she loved the ability to make her own schedule and blend personal demands with those of her job. A few months ago, she landed a job as senior public relations account manager with PR firm Burdette Ketchum. At first, she worked from home, but she's been back at her company's office for more than two months and she finds that it's tougher to get personal tasks done.

"It's nice to be able to throw in a load of laundry in between Zoom calls. You could still get your life done on a day-to-day basis while you were working,” she says. Whether you wanted to get in a quick run during some down time, have lunch with your family members who were also at home, or start dinner a little early, being at home often makes it easier, Elton agrees.

3. 'Down the hall’ commute

4. Disruption control

Even though there are interruptions at home, Taylor feels they're more manageable and that she's more productive overall outside the company office. The conversations around her or people dropping by her workstation to ask questions can be distracting. “It's all work-related, but still, it's an interruption

5. (No) home office policies — or politics

Melvin misses the mask-free existence of working from home. 

6. Increased independence

Taylor, a self-described “morning person” used to be at her office desk at 7:30 a.m. and work through lunch most days. 

7. Expecting the unexpected

Let's face it: There were some strange and even funny moments in the remote-work world.