A New Way Of Working - Don’t Step Back As You Are Already There! 

There is no getting away from the fact that 2020 will long be remembered for COVID-19 and the terrible impact it had on so many of our lives. We will all be glad to get through it safely with our families and, apart from those manufacturing face masks, it will have undoubtedly knocked many of us back in our work life. 

However, will it have really knocked us back in the long run? I’m not just talking about the impact it will have on our attitude and work ethic, which in itself should be positive as we learn more about ourselves and what we can achieve when really pushed – both as a collective and individually. 

No, I’m talking about you realising how you can work far more flexibly than you ever thought possible:  

• using new technology like Zoom, MS Teams and What’s App to better enable you to communicate and achieve everything you need, 
• not having to commute to the office daily as you have access to all of the tools and systems you need to do your job remotely, 
• realising that not everything needs to be done within the confines of the standard 9-5 working day, thus enabling you to spend that time with the family, going to the gym or whatever it is that’s important to you outside of work, 
• realising that, shock horror, you don’t need to be dressed up in a suit to work hard and effectively, and 
• realising you can achieve quite a bit on your own when needed 

Now I realise many occupations don’t have this luxury as physical aspects demand that their job can only be done on premises such as many of those in the NHS, factory-based roles and police officers to name a few. But I passionately believe that many of you will now be seeing an opportunity, if you take a moment to reflect, to work in a way that you had never previously thought possible. Not total lockdown and only going out to see the light of day once every 24 hours, but with far better balance. 

Not only can this flexibility be achieved in a way that enables you to work effectively but I would even go as far to say you will be more productive as you won’t lose time commuting, you have more options to communicate with colleagues/suppliers/customers (where before you may have felt it had to be face-to-face) and, arguably most importantly of all, you will be so much more engaged and happy working in a way that better suits your life. 

Once this pandemic has passed, which it will do, I would encourage you all to not just allow yourself to slip back into the old way of working. Consider what you have learnt that will enable you to work better for YOU, challenge your employers with constructive arguments on how they can enable this or maybe even realise that you can do this for yourself and really take control of your life – you’ve proven to yourself that you can do it!