Day 44 at the wpd windmanager home office. Since March 16 the majority of us has not entered our offices again. Several hundred working hours in domestic exile. Some can hardly wait to return. Others have already come to terms extremely well with working in sweatpants. In a short time we return to the workplace. Peu à peu we get out of our own four walls again. Out into the real world.
One thing is certain in any case: the 6 weeks of working from home have left their mark. Physically and certainly also psychologically. But what challenges did the colleagues have to deal with?
Here Are the 5 Biggest Challenges Beyond the Normal Office Routine:
1. Co-Workers of any Kind (Especially Minors)
Unfortunately you cannot choose your colleagues (in general). What applies to work in the office also applies to the home office. A tense atmosphere with moody partners or husbands and wives who chew too loudly is pre-programmed there. Because the home office follows a 24/7 approach.
While many disagreements with the life partners can be discussed, it is much more difficult with the mean underage co-worker. In addition to the enormous disorder, this species is also characterized by an extreme tendency towards theatricality, which is otherwise only known from Germany’s Next Top Model. If these underage co-workers are also cumulated, the potential for conflict increases considerably. Rumour has it that some of the colleagues are now talking in their sleep. The story of Elsa, the snow queen from Frozen. Sometimes even backwards.
2. Hiccups in the Home Internet
At this point, first of all, a huge thank you to our IT, which made this smooth operation in the home office possible in the first place. Big time. But even the best IT unfortunately has very little influence on the home Internet connection. We all surely had this ONE day on which we had to type in our 15-digit high-security password including special characters for the twelfth time with a twitching eye and failed again. No wonder, when the flatmates (either partners, children, roommates or the blue parakeet Lori) once again blocked the line by video conferencing, Paw Patrol or the latest season of Money Heist…
3. The Weather
We all asked ourselves: Does the weather have to be so damn good right now…!?
Dear sun, you who are in heaven, do not tempt me…AMEN!
4. No One Sends You Lunch Specials
11:30. Normally we would now search the lunch tables of the neighboring restaurants. „What are we eating today?“, you’d hear colleagues asking. But what’s left in the home office? Nothing but the longing look into the semi-deserted refrigerator. No spicy beef, no corn ricotta cookies on a gorgonzola pomegranate jus with toasted flaked almonds and green tomato salsa. And also no „Pasta ala Putanesca“ as it has always been on the menu of the Italian around the corner. So at 11:45 a.m. you can choose between the frozen tuna pizza or two fried eggs with the remaining potatoes from the day before yesterday. Cheers to the variety.
5. You’re responsible for your own caffeine supply?
And last but not least: Tiredness doesn’t stop at the home office. It’s a shame that no one is registered as a coffee supplier in the responsibilities and no one else is volunteering. A quick search reveals: there’s no record of a defined process. Neither on the intranet, nor in Signavio or Quentic. All work instructions are ignored. The home office quality management has an urgent need for training.
Otherwise, there is the threat of a nap starting tomorrow…