Yesterday my management asked our department to work from home as much as possible until further notice. For me, it’s theoretically possible to work from home 100%. I did that once, in Q4 2014 or ’15. I thought it would rock, because
- my boss is in Nürnberg
- my employees are in Romania
- at the time, I didn’t work closely with the people geographically close to me
- my customers are around the world
- I could get my gym routine done in the mornings before work and still be ready to work at 9 with time to spare
…but actually it kinda sucked, because:
- our apartment was cold, dark and had lousy WLAN access in the office area (a repeater only helped a little bit)
- lunch became a daily challenge — planning it, cooking/reheating it, or buying it
- (and this is the big one) I needed casual random human interaction (water-cooler style) a lot more than I thought, even to the point of bugging @sarah1976 with social neediness.
This time around, what’s different?
- better lighting and heating in the home office area
- better WLAN connection (still not great)
- better kitchen in this house with an ability to cook and eat outside, weather permitting
- two outdoor sitting areas, either of which is suitable for work outdoors (if I dispense with the docking station and monitors)
- I frequently collaborate with another department less than 3 minutes away by bike (but are they requested to WFH as well?)
- My own scope grew between the first time and this time; I work closely with those geographically close to me now (in addition to my team members in Romania)
What’s unchanged?
- My boss is still in Nürnberg and my employees are still in Romania
- The morning gym routine is still doable before work at home or in the office (but…how long will that facility stay open?)
- Have yet to master the lunch planning
- I expect I’ll be socially starved again, despite lots more diverse subject-matter interactions since the first time around, if this WFH-until-further-notice stuff sticks around for more than a couple months
What’s changing in your work-life balance as a result of Corona?