Theirs no denying we are currently living though an unprecedented time, which seems to have just slowly crept up on us over the last few months, getting ever more real these last couple of weeks.
I do think its important to remain positive in these strange times, which is why this weeks Gardinia blog post is a bit different than usual. Many of us are either working from home or doing our best to socially isolate, working alternate days at work like our Spares4Repairs team are doing.
I’m lucky enough that the vast majority of my job can be done remotely. All I need is a computer, a reliable internet connection and I can work from home. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I could even work from field in the middle of no where with my laptop and a 4g connection if I really wanted to!
With many companies implementing a VPN or cloud systems capable of allowing teams of many 100’s or even 1000’s of people to work from home and still collaborate, I think this might change how even more traditional companies work in the near future, even after the COVID-19 situation is under control.
I can see this been especially true in places like London where the commute to work is a nightmare, although to be fair even Wakefield Road is increasingly bad these days.
So that brings me on to the title of this blog post, after working from home for a few days these are some of the positives I’ve taken away from the current situation:
- Reducing the risk to anyone still going in to work – first and foremost as the online side of our company Spares4Repairs remains in operation, the less people in a confined space such as our office can only be a benefit to everyone. As per the government guidelines. So i’m glad i can do my bit in that respect and still get on with work as normal.
- Easier to get on and complete tasks – I personally find it a lot easier to concentrate when its quiet, something that’s not always the easiest thing to do in a busy office.
- Do more in the same amount of time – I’ve found that I’ve been able to just to get on and finish things a lot quicker than i normally would due to it been easier to concentrate on things.
- More free time – Theirs no commute to work or back home at the end of the day, so that’s potentially up to 2 hours more free time a day depending how long it would have taken me to get home that day, it’s not often it takes less than an hour!
- More energy – I’ve felt like I’ve had a lot more energy at the end of the day, despite actually getting more done. Possibly due to just been able to start work at 8:30 and not have to get ready and travel to the office. I’d recently made the decision to start walking there and back as I perceived that to be a lot safer than using public transport.
After we’ve got the better of COVID-19 I can see it become generally more acceptable for people to work from home certain days of the week and not be in the office every day, especially as systems and processes to facilitate this are now in place for a lot more employees. From my experience so far I think it has benefits for both the employer and employee.
So that’s my take on working from home as someone who wouldn’t normally, I don’t personally mind it at all and actually makes a lot of sense at the moment in my opinion.
That concludes my working from home blog. Over the coming weeks we plan to post more unique blog posts from different team members here at Gardinia, covering different subjects, general advice and what people are doing outside work in these unprecedented times. It will be good for everyone to share their experiences and keep spirits up as much as possible.
