Work From Office: Back To Good Old Days!

Many companies saw the necessity of working from home as the silver lining to an unexpected situation when the country was shut down due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Initially, People were excited & there was a lot of buzz about video calls, increased productivity, and how great it was to avoid the long office commute. After a few months, the conversation got shifted. We started talking about Zoom fatigue, the blurring of work-life lines, and whether team culture was harmed when people didn’t sit and work together.

While working from home isn’t that bad thing, we can’t help but get antsy and miss the office. After all, we’re only human. We are always yearning for what we can’t have.

Do you recall what it was like to work at a company? Let us help you recall…

Remember those quick chats?

A coffee shop conversation, Friday evening drinks, lunching together, catching up on the weekend, vacations, or other fun things you’ve done! But above all, we miss social contact with our colleagues. Of course, we have video calls with our coworkers regularly, but this is different. On the calls, the conversations are usually more direct and mostly related to work. We miss the enjoyable aspect of working with our coworkers.

Face-to-face meetings!

Thanks to video call platforms, we can still communicate and see our colleagues, friends, and family. However, nothing beats having someone in front of you; we may miss out or misinterpret subtleties in body language and voice tone on video calls.

Undoubtedly, we’ve all noticed that the things we learned at in-person meetings, training, and workshops were far superior to those we learned online. We humans, knowingly or unknowingly, learn a lot from each other when we’re together, and we can’t deny that.

Collaborating with coworkers!

People miss having the option of asking a coworker a question or approaching a manager for assistance or guidance. There are various project management and productivity tools that support team collaboration. Still, it’s sometimes easier to have a quick catch-up chat to ensure everyone is on the same page. Although emails and messaging apps make this possible, they can get lost or overlooked in a cluttered inbox, resulting in a delayed or non-responsive response.

Lunch & tea breaks at the office!

Ahhh, lunches at the office. Different types of offices necessitate different lunch options. Do you have a company restaurant, or do you get a daily sandwich from “the bakery around the corner,” can you order lunch to be delivered, or do you bring your own food? Lunches and tea breaks at the office generally entail you taking a pause from your work and enjoying a walk with coworkers, discussing topics other than work, and laughing at each other. Of course, you can make delicious lunches at home, but you’ll have to do it yourself, which means you’ll be eating your sandwich in front of your computer and without your teammates.

Breaking free from the ‘bed-couch-shower-kitchen-desk’ loop!

Okay, that’s a little amusing. But don’t dismiss it entirely. Our world has shrunk now that we’ve been confined to our homes. For some of us, it’s as small as the ‘bed-couch-shower-kitchen-desk’ circle. Walking to the printer and coffee machine is something we miss doing. We used to visit colleagues in other departments. The company restaurant serves us lunch. When we’re at the office, we get more human interaction.

Conclusion

Covid gave us an experience we never expected for and it has also made us realize that it’s not just the place we miss; it’s the memories and people we crave!

In one way or another, everyone has their own story about going to work, meeting coworkers, and experiencing those moments, however, the time has come to relive those moments, go back, & get connected to memories and people we have been craving for! It is time to go back to those good old office days!