With many of us still working from home, we have asked our consultants to tell us how they have coped with the challenges faced first-hand.
Like most people over the last few months, I have spent time bouncing between working from home and being furloughed.
I’ve worked full time in an office for the best part of 13 years so it’s certainly been a different experience for me. I could count on one hand how many days I’ve WFH in the past as it was something I never saw the point in doing personally. My thought process was that I go to work... to work, and I go home not to work. Combining the two was alien to me. This time was different though, I had to WFH so I needed to adapt.
Challenges
The main challenge for me was exactly that, adapting. I carried on waking up when I normally would which meant I found myself in front of the laptop a lot earlier than I usually would. I quickly changed this and starting going for a walk in the morning to ensure I wasn’t glued to my screen for too much of the day. Lunchtimes were different too as when in the office this is quite a social time for us. Making or warming up food, comparing dishes, playing pool or going for a walk was our usual routine. WFH, however, I am making a bit of food before eating it over my laptop and definitely not having an hour or the usual socialising. Again, I changed this, and due to the weather being decent most of the time I made sure I ate my lunch in the garden and gave either one of my colleagues or any of my furloughed friends a call for a catch-up.
Positives
Despite these few challenges WFH was extremely productive and something I will be doing more of moving forward. My productivity went through the roof and I definitely got more done at home than I would in the office. Calls with clients and candidates were more relaxed and engaging without the hustle and bustle of the office noise in the background. I was more focused and was able to plan my day by the hour and stick to it most of the time. Lunch was healthier than ever and contact with colleagues and managers was the same, if not more than usual thanks to Microsoft Teams.