When does an adjustment become a norm?

It’s been about a year now since we all began the quarantine lifestyle, and alongside spending more time with our families or baking sourdough, a large portion of working adults, or at least those with desk jobs, have been working from home. At the start, there was an assumption that this would be just a temporary thing, but as time passed, some companies started to realize that remote working is more economical, at least for some industries. Though vaccination efforts are proceeding and way be back to some semblance of normal by this time next year, the questions is, will we still be working from home? And if we are, how will that affect your professional lifestyle?

Some companies, especially those with more old-fashioned governing bodies, have referred to remote work as an “aberration,” and want to get everyone back in the office as soon as humanly possible. Younger companies, especially in tech sectors, have begun discussing the potential of going entirely remote, as it saves money on in-office expenses. If you’ve been working at home this entire time, you’re probably used to it already, but you may not have gone whole-hog on setting up a home office because you assumed things would get back to normal.

In the event your job goes perma-remote, you may need to take stock of a few things. First and foremost, are you okay with working 100% remote? Because if you aren’t, you should tell your company. Some companies may opt for a hybrid approach with some workers in office and some out of it, so if you really want to be in the office, you should make that desire known. If you are okay with remote working, you should definitely set up a designated office space within your home if you haven’t already. If you have family, you should make it clear that you shouldn’t be bothered during work hours unless it’s important, though hopefully, even if you’re still working remote, your kids will be back in school at some point.

Quarantining sort of… awakened something within the working public, a realization that certain established norms of jobs don’t really need to be. Once working from home is no longer a requirement, don’t be surprised if a lot of folks choose to stay in their jammies.