How has Covid-19 and post-lockdown living changed the working world forever? More and more people have come to realise the benefits of hybrid working hours. They also fail to share some of the disadvantages experienced in this new flexible society. Today I’m sharing my experience and tales of hybrid working!
What is hybrid working?
This flexible approach to work combines both days spent in the office, and days working from home. This may include going into the office on a once-a-week basis, once-a-month, or simply as and when it is necessary to do so.
Hybrid working can look different for everyone, and while it’s a great compromise for some, it doesn’t work for all. I’ll be sharing my own experience of hybrid working. This includes the pros and cons that many people, like me, have come to realise.
My experience
Cast your mind back to living in lockdown, which seems like an entirely different lifetime ago. Yet there’s no denying that it changed the world that we work in completely. The lasting effects are still in place now.
My own experience of working from home first started in 2020, during my second year of university when the very first lockdown began. Ultimately, this lead to me spending my entire final year working from home, back in Southampton. From there on I didn’t step foot in Cardiff (from a university standpoint) until my postponed graduation the following year!
As I had become so used to working from home for university, when I got a job and progressed into the working world, it didn’t feel all that different. I quickly adapted to working from home in this new scenario.
Within my job, I started out working 3 days in the office, with 2 days at home. This soon dropped to 2 days in the office, coinciding with the country-wide petrol shortage. It just made sense. Now I’ve found that I much prefer going into the office twice a week. Particularly as it’s on a Monday and Thursday, as it notably breaks the week up for me.
Starting the week in the office on Monday helps all of us involved to plan out the rest of the week. It provides a clear timeline of how I should prioritise different tasks and how I’m going to proceed. Come Thursday, if there’s anything I need further help with, we can schedule time to go over it and review the different stages we’re all at. I don’t feel the need nor see the benefit to make my way into the office anymore than that, using hybrid working to my advantage.
Whilst working from home has become a norm in my life, it hasn’t been the same for everyone. What the pros and cons are to me, may look extremely different for someone else – that’s the nature of hybrid working!
The benefits
Whilst working in a team and in the office can have great benefits (see more), I highly value my own time to work as well. Working from home gives me the ideal opportunity to work on my own schedule, focusing on the tasks that do not require input from the rest of the team, and thriving knowing that I can just be left to get on with what I need to, without the need of constantly being checked up on.
In fact, working from home creates a better work-life balance overall. Less time spent commuting, a more flexible approach to the work environment, higher productivity and increased motivation. Some people simply like working from their own space (me included), and on the days you really can’t be bothered to make an effort – hybrid working is a lifesaver!
Life simply looks different for everyone. Although it’s not something I’ve come to experience, many people need a more flexible approach to work. This may be due to personal appointments, childcare commitments, family arrangements – the typical 9-5 office day just doesn’t work the way that it used to anymore. To guarantee employee satisfaction and a more positive reception, flexible/hybrid working is the approach that many businesses are adopting, with good reason too.
If everyone gets their work done, and are happier doing so, why wouldn’t we highlight the value of hybrid working?
The disadvantages
As with everything in life, there are some cons to working from home, and hybrid working in general.
Working from home gives a real inability to wind down afterwards. Less time spent commuting is great for those days when you just want to get home, but it’s not so great on the days that you need more time to get out of the working mentality and into one of relaxation.
There’s a trend circulating TikTok at the moment, highlighting the 5-9 after the 9-5. Whilst many people would see the commute home to take up an integral section of that ‘5-9’, I find it to be particularly useful as it helps me get out of work mode, and into a more ready-to-relax mindset. Compare that to simply shutting you laptop lid or turning off your desktop and stepping away from your desk? It’s not quite as easy to step away entirely, giving a false sense of availability to work all the time.
Additionally, as a result of working from home, there are some office mornings that I really struggle with. In fact, it’s simply the earlier starts to the day that I find considerably tougher to navigate. I’ve always been a late to sleep, late to rise type of person, and I don’t see that changing. Although some people are more suited to starting the day bright and early, that’s never going to be me!
But how many other people find office days so much harder, as a result of being able to roll out of bed and straight onto your laptop on those work from home days?
The tale of hybrid working comes down to one thing, balance. As I said earlier, it creates a great work-life balance, but we should also recognise there are some disadvantages and that’s okay too.
Some people love it and some people hate it – which one are you?
