Working remotely during a global pandemic
A pandemic isn’t only about the virus
I have been working remotely for more than ten years, and this wasn’t it. For example, even though I have been thinking about writing for three months, I couldn’t write a single word until today. Because working from home during a global pandemic isn’t the same as working remotely.
Working from home during a global pandemic isn’t the same as working remotely
During the last few months I feel the world, at an accelerating and sometimes forced pace, busted the myth of ‘people who work remotely are less productive’. I’m glad to see working remotely is no longer an edge case because I’m sure regulations for better remote working conditions will follow.
We need to make clear one thing: This situation we have lived isn’t working remotely. People had been sent home to work during a pandemic, without time to prepare for it at an individual level nor a broader one, with every worry about health and unemployment of their relatives and peers, without a plan for translating their everyday job into a remote environment. And even with a situation that bad, people made it work.
A friend’s boss was totally against working from home because ‘We can’t technically do it, we would have to dedicate too many resources for that to happen’; he changed his slant into ‘We have prepared a VPN in an afternoon so you all can access our database and work as usual while being locked down at home’. Proving once again that lack of trust is what shapes a manager’s opinion against working remotely.
This is a rough list of things that are different when properly working remotely:
- Before going full remote, the company takes time to change some part of the processes and adapt them to a remote environment.
- You can prepare a place at home or elsewhere reserved just for work.
- You choose that place because it’s silent enough to concentrate.
- Your children are at school while you work.
- If you live with a remote worker, they also have their own space for it.
- You have a set of clothes comfortable enough to work from home that are not your pajamas.
- You have your own routine chosen through trial and error. Working remotely is usually attached to other flexibility treats, like choosing your own schedule.
- You have lunch at restaurants from time to time, instead of having to cook all your meals.
- On your free time, you can practice hobbies outside or sports that help clear your head from your job and other worries
- You can have lunch with friends in the middle of the week.
- You celebrate birthdays and other events in person, helping you feel the passage of time.
- You sleep the extra time you used to spend in your commute, because you aren’t worried about family and friends well being.
- You can ignore the news for a couple of weeks to clear your mind, instead of continually reading every update to get to know the new rules to go outside and interact with one another.
- You walk outside without fearing to bring back a virus with you.
- You don’t bleach your groceries when you come back home from the supermarket.
- You don’t care about touching your face while being outside.
- You aren’t worried about the pandemic affecting the vulnerable people around you.
- You can rest during weekends: singing at concerts, walking in the park, hugging your friends, making a picnic, ..
- You have the freedom to choose where to work or party.
- You can move to a new home.
- I would have hugged my mom tightly when my grandma passed away from covid, instead of grieving in isolation.
The pandemic has created new stressful situations that didn’t happen before. Apart from the most obvious–people with health issues that covid affect to–there were people with mental health issues shut at home, people living with their abusive partners, young queer people living with intolerant families, …
If working from home during a pandemic has kind of worked for you and your office, imagine how well will it work with freedom of movement and a well-rested headspace.
If working from home during a pandemic has kind of worked for you and your office, imagine how well will it work with freedom of movement and a well-rested headspace.
I’m aware I’m talking here about the lucky people who could work from home during the lockdown, but wanted to mention that the most vulnerable people didn’t have that chance. The possibility of finding a job for a few hours or days depends a lot on their mobility.