What's it really going to be like back in the office?

How a temporary fix to working has us wondering how the mindsets have shifted, so what's it really going to be like back in the office?

What’s it really going to be like back in the office?

You can feel the anticipation building in the air, as we are slowly released from the restrictions that have tied us seemingly forever, locked in our little worlds. Roll on summer for sure, but there’s a ‘but’ as I wonder how, when reality sets in, people will really feel about their return to office life.

It would be difficult to believe that there won’t be a smidgen of resentment harbouring in the backs of minds, especially if you’re someone who has been continuously working through the pandemic … potentially seeing your colleagues bounce back into the office, returning from a long furlough, seemingly fresh and rested, when you’re fit to drop at all the extra responsibilities you’ve had to pick up in their absence.

I don’t think it’ll be a bed of roses, so let’s start by seeing it from both perspectives…

Furloughed colleagues would have likely had little or no choice in the matter and may have been tormented by the worry of not having enough money to pay their bills; being cooped up over the winter months, wouldn’t have helped either, let alone feeling vulnerable to potential redundancy, on top of everything else.

People working through have had it anything but easy too. They’ve been either sitting in a virtually empty office, missing their work-buddies (and even the office politics!) or working from home, which whilst it sounded idyllic at the beginning, the reality of loneliness, home-schooling, feeling left out of the working social group, certainly would have taken its toll.

So as with everything we’ve learned over the past turbulent months, let’s try to be benevolent; let’s not jump to conclusions about people’s lives and how we perceive ‘how they’ve had it easy’. Let’s see it from the other side and go back to the office with a new, generous way of thinking, for a little while at least.

I'd love to hear about your experience of work over this past year and to know which ways of working you favour most! Comment below to let me know, or feel free to get in touch if you're thinking of a change!

Michelle x

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