Research conducted in Australia indicates that about 30 per cent of workers can work from home because they mostly work on a computer. These workers are usually professionals, managers, and other specialist white-collar workers who earn above average income. For the other 70 per cent, working from home is not an option even if their work is now being re-evaluated for its importance to the well-being of society. This split probably applies to most developed economies.
We are living in an age of speculation where everyone seems to have an opinion on everything that COVID-19 will change in our lives. Many are asking whether offices, as we know them today, will soon disappear as employers and employees realise how working from home is safer and more productive.
I can never forget the hours I spent in the most satisfying phase of my career explaining to vocational education students the benefits of the open office plan. I never realised that cellular offices would one day become not only fashionable again but also safer for white-collar workers.
The upside of working from home is becoming more apparent especially in the local environment where our overcrowded roads can hardly cope in rush hours. The long, frustrating journey to and from work, the time wasted trying to find a parking place and the polluted air one has to breathe to reach the office have been thankfully forgotten in the last few weeks of lockdown. Some office workers also claim that working from home meant no more workplace politics and not having to interact closely with irritating colleagues and bosses with huge egos.
The downsides of working from home range from the ridiculous to the almost sublime. Some employees working from home have commented on social media that they miss the office coffee machine, which makes perfect espresso. Other miss the communal water cooler – a place for organic personal and professional networking where complex office problems are solved standing and chatting.
Working from home meant no more workplace politics
Some of us were amused when at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, many became obsessive about hoarding face masks, hand sanitisers and toilet paper. When households ran out of storage space for these items, the search began for swapping an ordinary chair found at home for the perfect office chair.
A white-collar worker wrote in an Indian online newspaper that working from home was ruining his neck and back. He lamented: “Never before had I valued the ability to swivel around, adjust the height, or lean back on the flexible mesh of an ordinary-looking, but well-serving office chair”.
Of course, missing the office chair is not just about ergonomics. Office chairs say a lot about office hierarchies. The comfort features of your chair also signal your designation. The armrest is often a key giveaway. Can you raise it or lower it? Status symbols are also made of such silly stuff.
The use of teleconferencing has shot up in the last few weeks. Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams are now installed on most laptops or PCs used by those working from home. Once again, obsession with image seems to prevail.
A UK survey found that those using teleconferencing facilities plan meticulously the background they want to have when their faces are beamed to the screens of other conference participants. Most people believe that a floor-to-wall bookshelf as a backdrop enhances their image and professional status while teleconferencing. Others try to project an image of cultural sophistication by using a modern painting as a background to their appearance on screen.
White-collar workers who love their food miss the canteen facilities that in some workplaces offer a choice of tasty snacks at subsidised prices. When working from home, such luxuries are not an option, especially if you have to cater for preparing lunch and snacks for the children and partner.
Not surprisingly, many who work from home miss the cleaners who keep office and desks spotlessly clean. Even if one is lucky enough to have a quasi-office at home, keeping the place tidy is a new chore one has to perform regularly.
Some yearn to return to regular office life because they miss the gossip and highly stimulating discussions with colleagues on the previous night’s football results. As one office worker said when interviewed on Sky News, she missed her colleagues most and would feel sad if she lost the social contact that comes with working in an office away from home.