Friday 16 February 2018

Working from home

I've taken a precious day of annual leave today.  I've really struggled this week with feeling so yuk and I needed the restorative power of just being home.  Sometimes that's all I need.  The longer I have to commute, the more I realise that I just don't want to do it any more. 

The powers that be are submitting proposals to the bigger powers that be this week to put forward a motion to allow our team to work from home.  As "document production specialists" we are not customer facing nor need to access printers or scanners to complete our work. There are ways to monitor work production along with Skype/email/phone to remain in continual contact if need be.  Some people thrive on workplace interaction.  I absolutely don't. 

A couple of years ago, I left the job I'd been doing for 17 years and moved, way out of my comfort zone, to an office in the city.  It was a career move and a salary hike I would not have achieved with my old company even if I'd stayed there until retirement.   Within less than a year however, my job evolved as firm wide secretarial and administrative staff changes were wrought by the company, and now I'm in the delightful position of still being well paid for probably the easiest job I've ever had in my career.  I turn up, put my headphones on, and that's how I remain all day, only interacting if I have to - or desire to.  The only fly in this ointment is the commute.  It is, like everyone else's commute, a pain in the bliddy ass.  Delayed, packed trains filled with sneezing, coughing people; more like a doctor's mobile waiting room.  Everyone glued to their phones or tablets, headphones in, trying to avoid eye contact - myself included.

I for one will welcome a decision to work from home with open arms.  Bring it on I say.  Someone else can have my seat on the train!  I will not miss the Snow Hill shuffle in the morning as a whole train full of people decant onto the platform and shuffle, painfully slowly towards the escalators.

I'm not sure how the proposal will be received.  The buzz word in our company is "mogility" (yes I know!) - basically the ability to be able to work anywhere you like.  All of the fee earners and a good proportion of the remaining staff are equipped with lap tops and can work from home or any of our offices if need be. 

I'm positive it would cut down on the amount of sick leave taken too.

Ho hum.   We shall see what transpires but I'm more than happy to put myself forward to trial it for our department.  A whole two hours shaved from my working day.  Oh Pick me! Pick me!!




1 comment:

  1. I'd love to work from home too, specifically from my bed! - and my'commute' is literally a two minute walk!

    ReplyDelete

Working from home

I've taken a precious day of annual leave today.  I've really struggled this week with feeling so yuk and I needed the restorative ...