Corona is disrupting our workplace, unthinkable things are now possible

Like 35% of the world population I am also self-isolating to protect vulnerable groups of our society form infection with Corona and to flatten the curve of the spread of this virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has already changed our behavior towards work. These are changes would normally take intensive behavioral programs and obligatory training in tools and techniques. It is surprising how agile the human workforce is to adapt to this new situation of remote work.

Before I continue I want to share my profound appreciation of the group of healthcare workers and other people in critical jobs who are doing an impressive job taking care of the affected patients and working long hours in extremely difficult circumstances. Respect! 

I experience a relatively easy transition. As an IT manager, I was already used to flexible working hours and locations. However, I also have a preference for a specific desk and a comfortable group of co-workers around me. My day-to-day routine with scheduled meetings, focus time, casual ad-hoc encounters and office jokes. Now that everyone is working from home I see radical changes in the way we work and impressive results. It takes a disruptive situation like this to accomplish these changes. These are my findings.

Higher productivity is possible

I discover I am much more productive. I work long hours and usually start at 7:30 am and end my day by 6:30 pm. Limit my breaks to 30 minutes. I finish a lot more tasks and am better at prioritizing them. But the major factor is the absence of spontaneous distraction by co-workers asking me to help with some task, just listening in on unrelated discussions or asking me for a random opinion.

Acceptance of digital collaboration tools

We have been using MS Teams for a year already. The organizational adoption of this product was moderate in our company, with a few exceptions. The usage of chat and planner was almost nonexisting and the majority of my colleagues had never done a video conference on a structural basis. Within 1 week we have transformed into a completely virtual organization using Teams as the main tool for collaborating. I have never experienced such a swift and frictionless acceptance of any new tool. Note: we are Dutch are known for stubbornness and constant search for alternatives till we eventually reach an undesirable compromise. 

 Managing on outcome

I see a quick shift towards outcome-based management. Where the traditional manager was trusting his eyes, seeing his team physically present in the office (sometimes mentally absent), now he has to trust they are doing the right things. Within 2 weeks we changed towards an outcome-based management style. This change in management style would normally take months or even years. There is no given instruction on the time or place where you have to work. Just show your manager the (intermediate) results on specific moments. The fact that workers can self determine when and how they perform their tasks also contributes to their job satisfaction. 

Shorter meetings

I was used to having back to back meetings of a default 1-hour duration. Now we sometimes conclude after 15 minutes that “we are done” and end the meeting. These meetings are short, focused and goal-driven. We can condense the meetings to the absolute core, take a decision and move on. No need to wait until the hour has passed. It is acceptable to leave when we are done. Adding to extra productivity.

Acceptance for domestic disturbances

There is a huge acceptance for non-work related disturbances. Suddenly it is acceptable to pause a meeting to answer a question from your significant other or help your child with his homework. This also applies to domestic animals. We are skipping meetings because the dog needs walking. I suddenly realize my family, and my animals, are also important.

 Integrate physical workout in your work schedule

We used to be a bit spiteful of those co-workers who took a long lunch break to work out in the nearby gym. Now it is perfectly acceptable to schedule a 1-hour walk (30 minutes on the home trainer) between all other mini video conference calls.

Mixing personal and business tasks

There is often a reservation towards doing personal tasks at the office. Doing your online banking, have a conversation with your kids or helping your parents with using facetime (“Dad, you are filming your ear”). Now it is perfectly acceptable to attend to these tasks during your work hours. It makes the demarcation between work and private much more fluid.

Traffic and pollution

Since we work from home we are not commuting anymore. Naturally, there is a sudden absence of traffic jams and travel time. This alone contributes to at least 1,5 hours of extra productivity on my day. Also, the air quality has improved significantly. In Europe, we experience a 10% reduction in the emission of nitrogen dioxide (China showed a drop of 30%).

 These are some of my findings based on my personal experience. And I do realize the effects of this pandemic and the inevitable economic slowdown will affect a lot of people. The most important thing I learn from this situation is that people can change their behavior when they need to. I see we can change and adapt. This is the essence of survival.

Let me know if you have any findings to add to my observations. I am always open to learning from new experiences. Be so kind and add them to the comments section below.