Working patterns (169/365)
Jun. 18th, 2021 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
white_hartI don't agree with everything in this article, but it makes some interesting points and I was glad oracne linked to it yesterday, given that I am currently grappling with the question of what the working patterns of my team might look like when (if) things return to "normal".
It does strike me, though, that an awful lot of these thinkpieces about how hybrid or fully remote working is the way to go and the days of working full-time in offices are over turn out to have been written by people who were freelance and/or remote workers before the pandemic; people whose jobs really don't involve directly supporting other people or collaborating closely with a team, who are nevertheless that those things can be done just as well remotely as in-person.
Even for a team who are directly supporting an academic department, like mine, there are surprisingly few core tasks that can't be done remotely. The argument for coming back to the office is mostly based on intangibles: creating an environment that feels like a vibrant, busy department where students and academics want to spend time rather than just coming in for lectures and then going their separate ways; supporting newer and more junior members of the team to learn from their colleagues and develop in their roles. Managing a team remotely, making sure that everyone is supported and that at least some communication between individuals remains instead of everything going up and down the hierarchy, has taken an enormous amount of work and is a big part of why this year has been so very exhausting (not that I think that managers' preference should really be driving decision-making). Lots of people have said that they prefer working at home because there are fewer interruptions, without realising that those interruptions are often actually a key part of their job, even if they aren't specified in their job descriptions, or don't feel as important as the bigger tasks.
I think we'll end up with a hybrid arrangement (probably most people in the office 60%-80% of their contracted hours, and some who prefer being in full time), but I'm also finding that a lot of people (including me) are realising once they go back to the office that they do enjoy being there, and maybe even prefer it to working from home. Yes, commuting is a downside, but even apart from the possibility of in-person interactions instead of more bloody Teams calls, very few people have as good a setup at home as at work. (My working from home setup is pretty good; I brought my work chair home at the start of the pandemic, I have a big monitor as well as my laptop screen, a separate keyboard and mouse and a separate room to work in, but a desk that is a good size for a sewing machine is not a good size to work at.) It'll probably all be quite straightforward to implement, really; it's just taking an awful lot of planning.
oracne linked to it yesterday, given that I am currently grappling with the question of what the working patterns of my team might look like when (if) things return to "normal".It does strike me, though, that an awful lot of these thinkpieces about how hybrid or fully remote working is the way to go and the days of working full-time in offices are over turn out to have been written by people who were freelance and/or remote workers before the pandemic; people whose jobs really don't involve directly supporting other people or collaborating closely with a team, who are nevertheless that those things can be done just as well remotely as in-person.
Even for a team who are directly supporting an academic department, like mine, there are surprisingly few core tasks that can't be done remotely. The argument for coming back to the office is mostly based on intangibles: creating an environment that feels like a vibrant, busy department where students and academics want to spend time rather than just coming in for lectures and then going their separate ways; supporting newer and more junior members of the team to learn from their colleagues and develop in their roles. Managing a team remotely, making sure that everyone is supported and that at least some communication between individuals remains instead of everything going up and down the hierarchy, has taken an enormous amount of work and is a big part of why this year has been so very exhausting (not that I think that managers' preference should really be driving decision-making). Lots of people have said that they prefer working at home because there are fewer interruptions, without realising that those interruptions are often actually a key part of their job, even if they aren't specified in their job descriptions, or don't feel as important as the bigger tasks.
I think we'll end up with a hybrid arrangement (probably most people in the office 60%-80% of their contracted hours, and some who prefer being in full time), but I'm also finding that a lot of people (including me) are realising once they go back to the office that they do enjoy being there, and maybe even prefer it to working from home. Yes, commuting is a downside, but even apart from the possibility of in-person interactions instead of more bloody Teams calls, very few people have as good a setup at home as at work. (My working from home setup is pretty good; I brought my work chair home at the start of the pandemic, I have a big monitor as well as my laptop screen, a separate keyboard and mouse and a separate room to work in, but a desk that is a good size for a sewing machine is not a good size to work at.) It'll probably all be quite straightforward to implement, really; it's just taking an awful lot of planning.
