Post-Pandemic Working Patterns | by Julian Bond
Compared to before the pandemic, no one needs to argue about the benefits of home working, or whether it is possible. In late 2019, I spent a lot of time building a case for my over-stressed colleague to work at home two days a week (see my previous blog). Home-working has become routine in my organisation, we're not expected to be in the office more than three days per week. We are also more relaxed about disruptions that didn’t arise when we were office workers — cats on Zoom, children joining in with news interviews. Did we lose anything along the way? It would be strange to think we hadn’t after hastily leaving our office buildings.
No more casual bumping into colleagues, sitting on the edge of their desks and catching up, or eating lots of homemade cake. This is equally as important as actual work! How else do you get to know your colleagues, support each other at times of stress or find out what is going on? We need it, though perhaps we don’t know it. How else will we build relationships? We will be glad we formed those relationships when we find ourselves dealing with business frustrations.
In the last few years while learning new skills - copy-editing and grant-giving — I have also developed the social side of work. One aspect of this is the eclectic house band I organised at work - we play anything from Abba and Van Morrison to Irish folk tunes on recorders, guitars, and keyboards with some great singers. I also set up a Bible study group and invited a rabbi to join us. Some colleagues are surprised I know so many people and work areas in our building. I created social opportunities to spend time getting to know them
How do we continue this when we are isolated from each other over the great dissipated radius, or radii, of commuter land? I know from experience that polyphonic music doesn’t work on Zoom. It took me a while before I convened an online Bible discussion in our new world of work. It might help to have official encouragement to set up work-based social networks — e.g. WhatsApp and Facebook groups and create daily and weekly spaces in the diary for social time.
One of the coaching objectives of my Project Management Apprenticeship inspired me to hold an in-person cohort meeting. It was not long after we had started to come back to the office regularly and was a rare opportunity to meet each other, the sharing of our experiences on the Apprenticeship flowed.
The original version of this blog was published here.
Julian Bond is a Project Funding Officer for the Methodist Church based in London and has nearly completed the Multiverse Project Management Apprenticeship. He is writing for the Apprentice Lens as part of the Blogging Team. Here’s more about him:
He loves writing about all kinds of topics, recently being inspired by a weekly writing challenge on work during the pandemic. He brings a wealth of work experience and concern for people’s well-being together. He has also written various book reviews. His writing can be found on Medium.com.