
Home Sweet Home or Back To Work Blues?
Like many people I have been working from home since the start of the lock down period and I have to admit I found it really tough. I have desperately missed, and will continue to miss, the interaction with other people which has been and will continue to be off limits until the foreseeable future.
Most of the reasons I struggled with home working were the exact same reasons I struggled when I used to work from home all of the time, but without the ability to go to client sites and to meet in the ‘real world’.
Working from home I found:
- I felt really isolated.
- I felt I didn’t have enough space to have a designated working area which didn’t encroach into my home life.
- I felt it was almost impossible to concentrate and was easily distracted by the cat, or the postman or even the ironing every time I was trying to avoid completing a particularly arduous task.
So, on Monday, having established that it was safe to do so, I took the decision to return to my designated office at Salt Solutions HQ.
I moved back in, unpacked (and counted the cost of) the mountain of books I have acquired over the past few months and treated myself to a pint of milk, some hand sanitiser and a bowl of fruit.
And I have to say it feels good.
I’m the only one here so there are no worries around social distancing. There are various cleaning stations around the building so no worries around contamination. There is more space for me to get organised so no more worries about dropping the ball.
I’ve overcome the sense of isolation by putting the radio on to keep me company, I’ve cleared some desk space and some head space by tidying my desk and I have brought all of my emails, to do lists and printing up to date.
I also managed to file away the pile of papers that had been growing like Topsy on my makeshift desk at home and I caught up with printing all of those ‘saved’ documents that needed to be printed. Pretty good eh?
What has struck me most is how quickly this felt like home again. After such a long period working away from here I was afraid it would feel alien to be working in the old space, alone and with no cupboard full of snacks, no cats and no ‘also working from home’ hubby for company and/or distraction.
I think I can best describe the feeling as like the first day back at school after the summer holidays. New pencil case and exercise books, new school uniform and shoes and the smell of fresh paint and mowed grass.
For many people the thought of returning to work after the lock down period will be filled with anguish, apprehension and anxiety and we need to recognise that everyone’s lock down has been different, we all have our own perspective on the situation and let’s face it, not everybody relishes the memory of back to school days.
I have worked hard to maintain levels of service for all of our clients and like so many other businesses have used Zoom/Teams/Whatsapp etc to keep in touch.
As we approach the ‘what comes next’ phase of Covid 19 I hope I can continue to offer support and guidance through the period of adjustment that lies ahead.
I am always happy to spend an hour getting to know more about your business aims and concerns and work with you to identify the ‘actual’ problems you face and to shine a light on the opportunities that lie ahead. Very often the fear does not become the reality. Together we can identify best solutions and hatch a plan to help you move forward.
Always here to help.
Heather