If you are someone who has not been in the office at all for the last 12 months, it might be difficult – or even impossible – to remember all the positive aspects of being in the workplace. While it does mean that you will need to change out of your PJs, brush your hair and spend time commuting, we assure you it will be worth it!
For many of us at Schiavello, it was only when we started to return to the office that we were reminded of all the benefits of being in the workplace. So, here is a timely reminder of what we all love about going to work and the things that we forgot we missed about being in the office.
A variety of spaces to support how you work
Unlike home, the workplace provides a great variety of spaces to work allowing us to find the best space to support the tasks that we need to complete. At home, you may be able to move to the kitchen bench or couch if you want to mix things up, but these spaces are not specifically designed for work, meaning that they do not support your needs in the same way that the workplace does. For anyone longing for the opportunity to work uninterrupted for longer than 30 minutes or have a phone call without having to apologise for all the noise in the background, there’s empty quiet and phone rooms that are calling your name.
A supportive workstation with an ergonomic set-up
For anyone who was not fortunate enough to have an appropriate workstation set-up at home, you are undoubtedly ready to return to the workplace where your ergonomic work-point is waiting for you.
After many months spent working hunched over your laptop whilst sitting on a dining chair with zero lumbar support, it’s time to show your body some love and get back into your ergonomic task chair with all the trimmings. And that’s not all. The workplace will also provide you with your sit-to-stand workstation, monitor arms, laptop riser and dual monitors to give you a truly supportive experience.
Face-to-face collaboration & team working
Although all our collaborating and team meetings were successfully conducted virtually in 2020, it was not without its challenges. Wi-Fi issues, constantly talking over each other and making it halfway through a sentence before realising you are on mute is something we have all experienced during remote working. Returning to the workplace has reminded us how valuable it is to have everyone in the same room when trying to brainstorm ideas or solve a problem. As good as virtual meetings are, deep down, we all know that digital interactions are no match for face-to-face and that’s because effective collaboration is so much more than an exchange of words.
Feeling a part of the organisational culture & in-touch with what’s happening in the business
When working remotely, it was easy to start feeling disconnected from the people we work with and lose our sense of purpose in our role within the organisation. Since returning to the workplace, our sense of belonging to our team and to our organisation has been reinvigorated, giving us a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to our work.
Now that we are in the office more regularly, we have greater insight into the comings and goings of the organisation and feel more informed and aware of everything that is happening both inside the physical work environment and across the organisation as a whole.
Genuine banter with colleagues & 10am coffee catch-ups
Yes, technology made connecting with colleagues easy whilst working from home. But what we didn’t realise, was how much we missed the conversations and catch-ups we had with people in the office that we do not have a direct working relationship with. It was the daily catch-ups with colleagues that sit at a nearby workstation and the impromptu chats with people we bump into on the way to grab a coffee that we had forgotten about after working from home for so long. These casual, social connections are difficult to fabricate digitally, and just aren't the same when away from the workplace.