We are living in historic times. The world has been flipped upside down and the consequences of the Corona Virus have effected our economy, workplace, and very way of life. While many people have lost their jobs others have had to adhere to the new government mandated restrictions changing the way we interact professionally. My company has been deemed “essential” so we have continued to do business and my position in the finance department has been made even more important due to the fact that many of our customers have closed shop. I still need to recover our bottom line from everywhere possible so my company doesn’t take a huge hit to our budget. I personally chose to my managements’ dismay to work at home since I had done it before in the past and I knew that those capabilities have already been set up. Their concern was “that my productivity would go down” and after many constructive conversations I was able to talk them into it. One of the looming questions cover-19 is the wretched uncertainty of how long this “shelter-in-place” order will stand. Visa vie how long will we be working from home? Is this going to be the way many office centric companies are going to move forward in the business world? Yes, I am able to work from home and for the time being this is my preferred way of employment but do the pros out weight the cons enough to make this change permanent?
One of the downsides of working in a metro city is always the commute and with this new change that problem has been eliminated for me due to the fact I don’t have to leave the house. Working from home has given me more sleep and more time to actually work which i’m grateful for. Working in finance is all about being effective in the time given and having limited distractions has helped me get in a groove to handle more of my workload in a punctual manner. When I’m in the office anything from a casual conversation to training a younger colleague in a program he may not understand can really interrupt my productivity and derail my train of thought leading to errors as well as less work done. I do enjoy working from home because my focus is only on my job but there are trade offs.
Though I get to work with little distractions and my stream of thought is continuous this has lead me to take less breaks. I have to be more diligent with my own schedule to take more breaks and follow through with them even if I’m on roll with my duties. Now that I am away from my office and more independent I am completely accountable for everything that is due. I don’t have my boss there to hound me when a report is due, it’s all up to me. My roommates living their normal lives have proven to be a disruption but this is not their fault because they have different schedules and they pay rent just like me. Who am I to tell them what to do? Mentally this change has been difficult because my apartment is no longer my refuge from work. I used to be able leave my work at the office now it follows me everywhere because my work set up is in my bed room where my personal computer set up used to be.
The verdict for me is still out because like I have previously listed there are pros and cons to my current scenario. Yes, I have more freedom of the way my time is delagated but this has also compounded my responsibilities which adds to my stress. That stress occurring at home has been challenging because it feels likes it’s harder to escape. Like all things in life if you are proactive toward improvement your situation betters itself. All this being said I am thankful to have a job and I am thankful that I am safe at home because there are many people working the front lines to make ends meet. When I feel those rushes of anxiety I practice gratitude and take inventory by getting grounded in my present peace. When I first started working from home my job emphasized that this change will be temporary so like most things in this quarantine lifestyle I will continue to try to make the best of it.
