Working from home - living the dream?

Working from home – living the dream?

As we all know, the last few years have been strange, to say the least.  We’ve all been affected by Covid, and it’s caused some life changing situations.

Everyone’s day to day lives are different, including people now working from home either full time, part time, or on an ad hoc basis.

If you used to dream of working from home, whilst stuck on the packed commuter train or in queues of traffic, has the dream lived up to the reality?

Research carried out by the CIPD (Working from home: assessing the research evidence | CIPD) has shown that whilst productivity is up, other more human elements can suffer such as social contact and innovation.

As with much of our lives, we don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone.  Who would have thought the commute could be seen as time to unwind from the day and switch from work to home mode, as opposed to turning off the PC and moving to another room in the house.

Social contact with colleagues, that may not be as free flowing whilst working from home, highlights how import social contact is for all of our mental health.  Not only in creating strong teams, but also in healthy happy employees.

The Mental Health Foundation (Work-life balance | Mental Health Foundation), highlights how one in six of us will experience a mental health problem in any given week.  Keeping in touch with other humans, be it at work, socially or in general day to day life, enriches us all.

The chance to bounce ideas of a colleague when the thought arises, and not having to check if they are online, being able to see someone’s body language in response to a suggestions or ideas is invaluable, and something that is much harder to navigate remotely. 

Sharing things about our lives, ideas, what we had for dinner, what’s on TV, are all part of keeping us connected.  Keeping in touch has never been so important.

In summary, it looks like home working is here to stay, but we must all try and ensure the things that make us human don’t suffer.  Keep reaching out, keep meeting up as the contact we have with each other really can be life changing.  It’s the little things that really make all the difference.