For the better part of last year, many of us have been uprooted and forced to work almost exclusively from home. Zoom calls replaced the Monday meeting and we’ve been forced to eat lunch alone.
As vaccines roll out across the globe, it’s clear that COVID-19 has truly changed our conventional work environment forever, and it’s something almost every business has been forced to understand and adapt to.
If you’re an office worker who once spent every working day at your own desk, this might be a chance you’re coming to grips with. With that in mind, here are a few ways your life, and the life of your colleagues, might be different from now on.
1 The Office
This is the obvious thing that almost seemingly must change. Some businesses will choose to downsize, allowing for a portion of their workforce to work from home part of the time and come in for meetings.
Conference and video meeting rooms will most likely expand, with more space being used up to accommodate these facilities.
If any office hopes to reopen further before a greater swath of vaccine roll-outs have been accomplished, then mandatory health checks, temperature scans, social distancing, mask-wearing, and effective and robust ventilation in all enclosed spaces must be maintained.
2 Your Desk
The concept of having your own desk might very well be going out the window. Hot-desks were already becoming popular pre-pandemic, with some businesses choosing to have staff come into work for part of the week.
The coronavirus will have likely given some businesses the push to move to this, and even move office space to further adapt to this lifestyle. The home office – your new desk – will increasingly become the new normal. This could well see a greater spike in home renovations and adaptations to accommodate this change.
3 Your Wardrobe
Are pyjamas the new business attire? Not entirely, but from the waist down, who would know?
COVID-19 has forced us into our homes, meaning that all those smart outfits we once wore daily are simply gathering dust. While business attire won’t go away completely, working from home will allow many people to own less and spend that money elsewhere.
4 Your Health
The coronavirus has been an awful period in almost every person’s life. Tens of millions have been infected globally, millions have passed away, and many are dealing with long-lasting symptoms of long COVID.
There is a silver lining, though. Office work is generally not good for your health. Sitting at a desk in artificial light with an aircon for hours at a time is just not healthy.
The shift to working from home will allow many people a break from contracting the usual colds and flu that would normally move through an office environment.
Posture and a more effective way of working can be considered when designing your new home office, with the possibility of sit-stand desks, the ability to move around working from different positions during the day, and a higher chance of breaks from your screen.
The COVID-19 coronavirus has changed work for all of us, and that change has led to the loss of the social environment that many of us relied on for stability and human interaction. Loneliness and isolation are now very real threats to anyone’s mental health.
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References
6 Ways COVID-19 Will Change The Workplace Forever
COVID-19 and the changing world of work
13 ways the coronavirus pandemic could forever change the way we work