It’s become clear that since the COVID-19 pandemic and over the course of 2020 to 2021, the need to work from the relative safety of home has become more and more present. Not only for the individual worker, seeking to safeguard themselves against the virulent threat but also for their employer, who simply can’t afford the gathering of people in an office.
But as 2021 comes to high noon, several places across the globe have begun efforts to return to a “known normality” of sorts. Businesses and places of public recreation have opened up, schools are taking in students again, and some companies have also recalled their workers to in-office work.
However, this shift hasn’t been absolute; neither in places or grades of severity. In this article I want to explore if there is a balance to be found between working from home, and returning to work in the office (or other such workplace).
One size does NOT fit all
We have to begin with the indisputable fact that one answer will not suffice nor apply to all jobs out there. Every single position has a degree of flexibility that allows a mixture (or non-mixture) of Work From Home (from here on shortened to WFH) and Office Work.
Anything you can conjure can be done at a distance, and 2020 has proven that (with logical limitations, of course). The field of medicine has experienced a surge in virtual consulting. Trades that already benefitted from distance work have greatly eliminated the need for offices; customer services, creative work such as graphic design, even architecture, or any sort of plastic arts, to IT work and education.
The question in mind is not “Is it possible to apply a WFH modality to my job?”, but more likely “Do I want to?”
It comes down to a personal question, and ensuing evaluation of what works better for you, individually. Morra Aarons-Mele, writing for Harvard Business Review gives us an article that explores the more personal side of this dilemma.
Truly, it’s a pitched battle between two sides and which will offer us the most utility. For some, missing their colleagues, face-to-face interaction, or profiting in productivity from the office space might be the decisive factors. For others, the elimination of commute time and cost, the ease and safety of the home space, and more liberty in time management might weigh much more.
Since it’s on such a personal basis, only you (guided by company evaluation and strategy, perhaps) can decide on which of the two, or in what combination, will work better.
How to choose?
Something that could make the call easier though, would be to dive deep into the subject and analyze every aspect of the situation.
Robert C. Pozen and Alexandra Samuel give us an excellent breakdown in their article on how to analyze different tasks that you do on your job, and then assign to each the best modality.
Should those meetings necessarily be in person? Can they be done virtually? Which do you prefer? Is there any particular task that you absolutely have to do in the Office? Would your boss, team, or superiors prefer you at the office, or are they ok (if not happier) with you having a home office?
As an exercise, let’s use an example. As of 2019, the average American worked about 39 hours a week (with obvious variations depending on age bracket, employment type, education, and other factors). Our test subject, a fictional Mr. John Johnson, is debating on what balance of WFH/Office Work he should establish.
Mr. Johnson happens to be a professor (say, a college professor), and he’s devoted some time to crafting a list of his weekly activities, and has devised an action plan:
Office Work: (16 hours)
- Academic Council Meetings (6 hours)
- On-location Test Days (6 hours)
- Syllabus Design/Approval (4 hours)
WFH: (23 hours)
- Class time (10 hours)
- Grading/Corrections (5 hours)
- Counseling (4 hours)
- Class prep (4 hours)
Mr. Johnson has found out that at least 59% of his workload can be done comfortably from his home office. And has allocated the remaining timeshare to those activities he has judged would be performed better in person. By establishing this action plan, the anxieties and complications of the decision of returning to the office or workplace can be lowered, if not extinguished.
But once more, this is but an example. Each person should do their own soul-searching and planning to see what mixture fits them best. I personally lean heavily towards WFH, as I coursed college almost entirely remotely, and it matches my personality.
While some of my co-workers enjoy the comradery and companionship of working together in person and sharing the office space. We’ve got more articles covering this subject, check this out if you wish to read more on it, if you’re going through this tough question, reading more can only help you out.
