Are you now working from home instead of going to an office? Do you love it or hate it? Or are you looking for work and wondering what to do next?
The world has been transformed in such a short couple of years. No one could have predicted this new World Model. Whether working from home as an employee, an artist, or a creative, evaluating yourself from an entrepreneurial and wholeness perspective is essential.
― Dennis Lehane, Live by Night.
“What you put out into the world will always come back for you.”
Hire Yourself!
Even if you work for someone else, we all need to consider that we have entered a new set of working conditions. Working for your employer with the same mindset you would if it was your own company could assure you more security down the road. Learning new skills and taking responsibility for your career with an eye on the future will be less disruptive when further changes occur. Look at your job from the employer’s perspective. Just as we all have changing circumstances, the world is changing for companies, also.
The one constant now… is change.
New Workforce Demographics
In North America and possibly Europe, forty-two percent of jobs have transitioned to permanent full or part-time work-from-home scenarios.
Twenty-five percent of people considered essential workers either work from their employers’ business premises or work on-call as scheduled from a home office and go to work on-site as required.
Thirty-three percent are either out of work altogether or are entrepreneurs whose routine occupations have been disrupted and are looking for other options to earn their living.
Sixty-eight percent of large companies, corporations, and banks are downsizing their office building space, shopping malls, tourist locations, restaurants, and hotels; almost every traditional venue is suffering the loss of activity due to the Pandemic lockdowns.
A New Virtual World – Working from home or a remote location
Governments and businesses are learning that getting back to normal may be more difficult than expected. People are resilient, innovative, and individual creatures. They have moved on in unimaginable ways.
Now that the largest block of workers has moved home, managing the business and working world may be more like herding cats than managing employees.
A Reuters analysis revealed that over 25 large corporations plan to permanently reduce their office space to reduce the second-largest expense after payrolls. Halliburton Energy intends to close more than one hundred of its facilities. A prominent city architect is canceling his big office lease and moving to a home office. The changes could be more permanent than previously believed.
As Individuals, We Need To Engage New Strategies as the Workplace and our Lives Transform
There are positive and negative consequences to this new world. Finding and implementing more of the positive side of things will determine how we survive in these changing times.
Embrace the Positive – Overcome the Negative
- Workspace transformations to home mean substantial changes.
- Less commute time creates less gas consumption, public transport, highways, car sales, and car repairs.
- You use less business clothing, lessening personal purchases. You need more comfortable clothing for work at home.
- Office furniture and equipment purchases to make your home office more functional. Ergonomic chairs, stand-up desks, higher bandwidth, plus new computer and software. (These costs may be borne by your employer or not)
- Cloud Working Platforms – secure office meeting protocols.
- Less Social Interaction at work means you need to balance this out with more Facetime with family and friends during lockdowns or scheduled social interactions in real time.
- Learning and staying in touch. Educational workshops, listen to independent, in-depth News Channels and experts in your chosen field online.
- Real Estate prices for homes move upwards. While office complexes are downsizing, your workspace is moving to your home, so you may need to move. Many millennials are moving out of the cities. They are buying their big homes with more space, in-law or nanny spaces for child care, and areas with more quiet space for working alone.
- Lights, camera, action… spaces that look business-like when you are in a Zoom meeting.
- Downtown Office Spaces can be converted into LOFT LIVING with workspaces.
- Live-Work Units with built-in exercise and creative break spaces to refuel energies.
- E-Commerce is Accelerating due to store closures—delivery services from household items and groceries to everything you want.
- Less drama and office politics but more isolation. Sometimes that drama is good for you. It keeps us all bopping along.
Personal Preservation Awareness
Working at home has many upsides depending on your personality. It can also have its downsides, and you will need to balance these out for your long-term emotional health.
- Understand the effects of Isolation. Even living in a family unit, you may miss activities with friends you enjoyed. Find ways to counteract feelings of being alone.
- Don’t be a workaholic; find ways to refuel yourself.
- Balance is key. “A change is as good as a rest,” they say, so even if you go outside for a five-minute breather, cook dinner, or clean the house, it is balance.
Official Work Time vs. New Learning and Creative Me Time
Schedule yourself. If you find that you are not taking breaks during your workday, change that. If you see you are texting with your boss at 11:00 pm, it may be time to set hours. None of us can work 24/7 and not burn out.
Emotional Health
The Pandemic is now considered disruptive as a major life change. If you are feeling severely challenged, it may not be you but the circumstances. We all deal with significant changes and losses differently. Reach out and find a companion to help you cope. This can be a win-win when you both are feeling the need for more companionship.
Consider a lonely neighbor. Just a shared cup of coffee now and then can mean the difference.
Be aware that moods can swing through feeling anxious, isolated, and helpless. This is normal during periods of stress, but find ways to relieve this. Sometimes it helps if you know it is temporary. Prisoners of war had to develop internal strategies and fortitude to get through the tough time.
Remember the song – “Count Your Blessings, Count them One by One.”
- In tough times, counting your blessings, even if it is something as simple as the fact that you can turn on your tap and have drinking water, can lighten your mood. Be glad the sun is shining, or be happy it is not sunny. There is always a positive something.
- Remember a good memory. When you re-live something happy, it can be as effective as having it happen in the present.
- Praise someone for doing something. Say thank you.
- Get lost in a good book. Forget yourself.
You are never helpless or lost if you don’t give up!
Consider those around you. If you are concerned about someone in your family, a friend, or a co-worker who seems more despondent because of these times, give them a kind word. Find a way to be cheerful. Or if that is annoying them, be quiet, just be there for them.
“What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you.”
― Oprah Winfrey.
Empathy is Magic
Teenagers and Senior Adults are the most at risk for depression during the Pandemic.
Teenagers have not yet developed the emotional fortitude and inner strength required for life’s tougher times. Also, the insecurity that a teenager sometimes has can feel overwhelming.
On the flip side, seniors can feel lonely, also. Their families are grown and may be more isolated than their children. They may feel health-related stresses or fear the end of their lives. Or they may have gone through tough situations of their own and be a strength to you now.
Practice being empathetic. Numerous sayings express this sentiment. You never know just when you will need some empathy back.
Sing a Song, Dance a Jig, Laugh, Listen and Pray,
Trina Astor-Stewart
Whatever it takes, tomorrow will be a new day.
- Sources:
- Nicholas Bloom –
- FlexJobs –
- Million Acres
Although we are living in rapidly changing times, we can look for what is relevant to our lives. Read and learn about how others are changing their lives for the better.
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