While Amazon could be paving a lead in the hype cycle for others to follow, if the Work From Home (WFH) culture is sunsetting in 2025, how do we prepare ourselves for this change?
Learn what to anticipate and how to embrace resuming back to Work From Office (WFO) culture!
As with the news of Amazon resuming WFO, potentially most organizations in the industry are setting themselves up to follow the standard (Disclaimer: If this model works for them!). The standard we all once knew how to operate in; which cultivated better team collaboration, innovation, and a sense of community towards our colleagues & affinity towards the organizations we worked in. With the senior leaders, mid-level managers, and customers knowing the struggles WFH infused in ongoing business, it seemed that we didn't know any better. After four years of toiling with the imposed challenges of complete WFH and hybrid models, seems like the only solution to continuing a healthy business & keeping up with the culture of growth is through WFO.
While it's challenging to welcome WFO in its all glory and it can dishearten many who have comfortably adopted their life around WFH's way of being; are we truly ready to say R.I.P. Work From Home? Looks like, it's finally time to welcome back WFO! Andy Jassy hints at why WFO is the need of the hour for businesses i.e. to address diluting corporate work culture and reducing the addition of many bureaucratic layers introduced through WFH practice. But is that enough to know & prepare oneself to get back to the WFO way of being & reintegrate this change openly? This Forbes article talks about many effects we may foresee as WFO becomes more prevalent.
The question is if those effects can persist then it is worth thinking about,
What are we truly resisting?
What are we potentially gaining, individually, out of WFO v/s WFH practice agnostic of Organizational benefits?
How do we prepare for WFO with the least resistance?
Let's get some perspectives here that can help professionals at all levels make sense of the hidden positive effects of WFO and appreciate the new change with an open mind.
WFH, A Real Long-term Stressor!
While many think that WFH has made their life simpler and easier to manage, at many levels that way of being might be functioning well. As it promises the real outcome one can see with better organization of responsibilities, timeboxing tasks, every living need served at the convenience of one's fingertip, etc. This certainly poses an illusion of a good life as it requires less effort to get things done. And the more you get things done, the more social & personal satisfaction you think is received.
In reality, there are more disadvantages than quick & external advantages we may perceive to have worked so far. If practiced consistently for a long time, it has a grave negative impact on the following:
Exercise of WFH is posing a real threat to our bodily & mental health. With the advent of WFH (combined with a surge in work travel opened post the pandemic was over) the Mental Health Epidemic has also picked up its pace & spread; showing more occurrences of excessive stress, anxiety, frequent & recurring emotional imbalances, the emergence of dormant traumas, chronic pain, spine-related issues, et al. and potentially more detrimental to our long-term health. Inadvertently also affects one's domestic life adversely.
Our perceived self-worth. i.e. Getting more things done is not going to lead you to win the productivity & performance game demanded by modern work cultures.
Our disintegrated social connection.
Our ability to create a valued & worthy support system.
Our ability to form trustworthy communities to rely upon. While online communities can provide good global reach and they can provide some really good support networks; more often they are short-lived, transactional, and lacking in positive integration of people with effective participation in formulating real connections. Most of them are artificial integrations or replacements of something real i.e. focused on external & superficial recreations or matters of living.
Our ability to discern and reflect on what matters in life.
Under the pretext of convenience and getting things done, our ability to be more mindful of our choices of being present & involved, negatively impacts the quality of our relationships at work and in our personal lives.
How does all of it affect your life as an individual anyway? All of it negatively affects our interconnectedness, making us more irrationally independent or negatively codependent, on our surroundings, and the world in general. It's a proven psychological fact that we are social beings who deeply believe in meaningful exchange with ourselves, our surroundings, and the world at large; providing a sense of positive interconnectedness affecting our health & well-being, happiness quotient, and derived meaning from what we pursue in life. If this is so important, then why are we all knowingly choosing this path of superficial, external living conditions (more often offered by extensive WFH culture)? What is stopping us from adopting a more integrated way of living?
Path to Resistance!
While there are some good benefits to WFH, more and more professionals are preferring either complete WFH or a Hybrid style of working conditions; that's due to but not limited to,
Better organization of time to commitment management.
Having more time with family.
Better family life integration.
Trading family time with work colleagues is a difficult proposition.
Some find opportunities for moonlighting (an ethically incorrect practice for professionals signed under a formal employment contract, promoting a remorseless practice of dishonesty)
But above all, it is the seeming discomfort to come out of a life, that is now set in auto-pilot mode, breaking out of it, adopting something new i.e. resisting change.
As human beings we have always resisted change; we know that many situational changes can prove to be good for us but it's not so much about knowing what is good or bad for us, that's a primary information which is needed for us to make decisions but it's more about accepting the change deep within and stopping to fight the idea of the past good no longer available at our disposal! Resistance to foresee furutre good.
How effectively we come out from this thinking to develop an adaptive & flexible mindset is what will make WFO part of our new positively integrated life.
So what do we do to cultivate such a mindset?
Anticipate Change. WFO's premise is not about you not having a choice of WFH or Hybrid work model anymore, it's about you choosing to go out in the world again, more often than in your recent past, explore new opportunities, and welcome experiences that await you. Accept that you will encounter times when the mind shall run into a comparison of what was good is lost, more often than you'd like, but when that happens trigger the Prepare stage mentioned below.
Prepare. Make a list of things that are going to excite you or positively affect your life. For example, access to different scenery, a reminder that life is not on a screen it’s more than that (if you are a parent then also being a good example for your children to follow the practice of social interactions & life outside gadgets), deliberately going for workouts, unique commute experiences, etc. Keep these items list handy to remind yourself every time there is a doubt cropping up that WFO is no good for you and/or it's not going to work!
Plan Short-term. Make a collaborative plan for every detail of your daily life. Even if you are not one of those who love to plan their days and make to-do lists, do this to offload heavy, recurring, overwhelming, negative thoughts & potential confusion from your mind about how your day would span out with the new change of WFO. Let your mind see the map of your daily routine, movement, getting ready to commute, etc. The plan must also include people in your life, communicating & making them understand the need for change & its outcome, seeking their permission to work together, honoring their choice to the extent possible, and a room for improvement (be flexible to incorporate new findings & changes).
Engage. Proactively make time to be actively present in different social exchanges & engagements at work and in domestic life.
Be Mindful. Take 5-10 minutes out of your day to reflect on your choices i.e. good, bad, worse, what worked & not, and possibilities that came up throughout the day and the effects of it. Identify where can you be more present, involved, and at ease to integrate yourself better with the awareness of ownership & responsibility at work, at home, and for your well-being.
Revise & refine your short-term plan & strategic benefits, if required.
Prioritize Strategic Benefits. Knowing and reminding yourself of the longer-term benefits of WFO will help set the stage when you lack the motivation to continue. Some of the potential benefits could be,
Better work-life satisfaction through engagement, connections & communication with teams up close.
As we socialize there are situations encountered that may trigger you, presenting you with opportunities to grow out & wide. So devise adequate support through personalized counseling, coaching, or therapy.
Address crisis management by integrating ongoing holistic practices into your daily life.
WFH / Hybrid / WFO, these changes are presenting us with an opportunity to reflect on these essential questions:
Are we being flexible towards our well-being?
Are we being thoughtful towards our surroundings?
Are we being supportive towards the world at large?
Take time out. Think. Experience.
Share your thoughts.
About Author: Tejal Rathod is a 'Management Psychology & Workplace Well-being' Award-winning expert Success Coach & Therapist, Author, Speaker, and Founder at eDC (www.elementsdcoach.com) having over two decades of diverse corporate work experience. She believes in leaving a legacy of positive work culture through personal growth and elevating one’s consciousness for meaningful success in life. Tejal engages with individuals, professionals, and organizations worldwide while specializing in work dynamics & culture, executive coaching leadership development, behavioral transformation & professional skills development, mental health and well-being, and holistic lifestyle coaching.
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Disclaimer: No written part of this post is produced using AI Assistance. Thoughts or terminology presented in this blog are individual perspectives and are neither meant to cause harm in any form, make any incorrect judgments, present details in full, nor gain undue influence from any (if) mentioned organization and/or entity and/or persons. Use your discretion while making inferences. Images credit wix.com. All rights reserved. 2024 eDC - elementsD Coach Professional Services.
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