Exactly 6 months ago, the company I am working for decided to dismiss everyone into working from home (where applicable) to prevent any Covid19 cases in our offices.
Lets take a short recap on how my working life has changed.
Starting Position
So, who am I and what am I doing?
I am working in the IT department of a big company (>20.000 employees) in Austria as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Application Manager.
My daily work includes a lot of talking, troubleshooting relevant applications and a bit of coding. All of them are tasks that can be easily done from home.
I have/had a neat office in the heart of Vienna with nice colleagues and free coffee around me. So basically, nothing to complain about.
First Weeks
I had one or two days of home office on a regular basis before the current situation, so it was not really something new. Things went as usual:
Getting up > Starting the laptop > Working > Switching off the laptop > Starting the PC > Gaming / Working / Netflix > Go back to bed
Rinse and Repeat.
The first insight came after 2 weeks or so and has been triggered by my back pain. Not only sitting 10-12h per day in front of a comupter but also sitting on a quite cheap chair took its toll.
Take a note here: Do NOT be chinzy when buying a chair for your office
A friend of mine recommended me a chair from Secret Lab.
I did not hesitate too long, spent ~400€ and 2 weeks later I enjoyed beeing seated like never before. Back pain adieu!
Luckily, as a gamer a must, I already had a dual monitor setup at home. Colleagues who don't are already complaining staring at their 16" notebook for 8h a day is... tiresome... to say at least.
The Months Are Passing By
Initially, the "order" was to work from home just for the next weeks until the Covid situation gets better. By now, we know that nothing got better at all. In fact it got worse. The current plan is to stay in home office for the rest of 2020.
It actually hit me like a truck realizing that I did not enter my actual office for 6 months now. I hope someone fed the hamster?!
Kidding, we don't have any (known) pets in the office ;)
But still. I haven't seen any of my colleages for 6 months. No come together for a coffee or a common lunch. If I wouldn't been married I would have hardly any social contacts. That is tough - even for a nerdy gamer like me.
I also gained 5kg weight due to lack of movement. I am still kinda sporty though, so it wont be an issue any time soon. But still.
But I am going to lie. I still enjoy the work from home regulations. I am saving about 1,5h commuting per day. Cooking my own food is cheaper then buying it at my favourite Asia restaurant. (I miss you Happy Noodles).
AND I can sleep longer and still work over time.
Internal studies have already shown that the productivity as well as the work-life-balance has improved in almost every aspect.
From an economical perspective an absolute win!
From a social perspective not so much...
What are your thoughts on working from home?
Do you have any experience in working from home over a longer time period?
Let us know in the comments.