There was something about everybody being home, and working from home, that made us open ourselves up to our co-workers and vice versa. Sans Zoom backgrounds and add family members and pets unexpectedly entering frame, this lockdown gave us an opportunity to enter our colleague's home and let them into ours. It made us acknowledge that the person we work with is totally human like us— with a family, with children, with pets, with dishes left unwashed on the sink, and with dinner half burnt because the video call took longer than expected.
This unfiltered glimpse into people's personal lives, and with the knowledge that the only way to defeat our common enemy is by working together, has given us all an elevated sense of empathy towards each other, don't you think?
Now, more than ever, humanity and vulnerability have been emphasised because of this pandemic. We have been reminded of our mortality and we started to put things into perspective. We (hopefully) learned to set petty disagreements and conflicts aside, recognising that there are much bigger problems we're facing together. We found comfort in every meeting and every town hall, as these have become signs of life and symbols of solidarity. We were placed behind the lens of gratitude— seeing everything with a thankful heart, counting every blessing that are still within our reach.
As we seem to be heading towards the end of our lockdown, I would like to ask: If we were to head back to our physical workspaces, will we be able to sustain the empathy and personal relationship we've built with our colleagues during this time of quarantine? I surely hope so.
The home is a sacred place for rejuvenation and going "off-line" from work. Yet, when the whole world went on lockdown, we were forced to completely blur the line between work and life. Some had a difficult time adjusting, while some naturally and quickly adjusted. With the exception of roles that are crucial to be on the field or front line, I cannot deny the benefits that come with being able to work from home— or at least having the option to.
"Employees value the option to work remotely. A 2017 study even found that the average worker was willing to accept 8% less pay for the option to work from home. This indicates that workers assign monetary value to the flexibility provided by a WFH policy. And with a work-from-anywhere policy, employers add even more value to employees by granting geographic flexibility. It’s a significant difference: while a WFH employee can choose to pick the kids up from school or spend lunch hour walking the dog, a WFA employee can do all of those and also relocate closer to aging parents or to a location with a lower cost of living." - Harvard Business Review, August 2019 article
"In our experience, however, managers often worry about remote employees working less, or multitasking, mixing personal responsibilities with work. There are also concerns that allowing employees to work from anywhere could decrease communication and collaboration among coworkers and might constrain the informal learning that typically happens in the office.
But one 2015 study based in a Chinese travel agency found that when call-center employees were shifted to working from home, their productivity increased by an average of 13%, apparently due to a reduction in break time and sick days combined with a more comfortable work environment. This finding raises the question: Could employees in a work-from-anywhere program also benefit from similar productivity increases?" - HBR (same article as above quote)
This is not to discount that work from home or work from anywhere is not for everyone. COVID-19 has caused businesses to close and people to lose their jobs. Not everyone has access to devices and connectivity. "Virus lockdowns have seen millions lose their jobs as waiters, flight attendants, Pilates instructors and other service providers are shuttered. That means sustaining those sectors that can function online has never been more important for a global economy facing one of its darkest periods since the Great Depression. [...] Manufacturers have also discovered the limitations of tech. One of them is Colin Ng, who is co-founder of Hong Kong-based Lincogn Technology Co. that designs and makes smart home appliances such as facial recognition door locks and mobile phone controlled lights for the Hong Kong, China, U.S. and European markets. [...] 'Video conferencing the discussion is very difficult,' Ng said. 'It is difficult to explain a lot of the detail through the camera, the conversation becomes very inefficient.'" - Bloomberg
However, I still hope that this sudden shift encourages companies and managers to reassess their operations to see what areas of interactions and process can sustain a WFH or WFA set-up as much as possible. "Flexible work was made for times like these. Once seen solely as HR policy or perk, COVID-19 has finally revealed flexibility as both a business continuity and economic recovery strategy. It’s how we’ve kept most businesses and organisations running, creatively serving customers and clients while making sure people are safe and employed. [...] Yes, that more than 26 million U.S. workers have filed for unemployment during the past five weeks is staggering.
But we cannot ignore the tens of millions of employees, both essential and nonessential, who figured out, in real time, how to work remotely and flexibly under extremely disruptive stay-at-home orders.
Like Rosie the Riveter in World War II, these workers rose to the occasion. They may have been shut out of their workplaces, but their work continued. That’s important to acknowledge as we consider what the changing new normal of work and life will look like during and beyond this phase of the pandemic. [...] Our experience and research have found flexibility in how, when and where you work — including remote work — leads to innovation, productivity and engagement. And, as we’ve seen over the past month, operational resilience. Additional studies corroborate these findings.
As we prepare to rebuild the U.S. and global economies, flexible work must be a cornerstone of these efforts in concert with COVID-19 testing, tracing and isolation." - USA Today
Along with the other realisations and behaviour changes we made in light of the COVID-19 situation, having the choice to work from home, establishing empathy, and building personal connections with colleagues are things that I really hope would carry over into our 'new normal'.
May 10: new COVID-19 cases: 184, total positive: 10,794; with a total of 719 who've passed and 1,924 recoveries
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