The (re)discovery of life!

A strange phenomenon is taking place. Employees, overwhelmed initially, are now beginning to enjoy working from home! Not all, but I am finding that those who have the luxury of having some independent workspace at home or have children are more likely to be reluctant to return to an office. Those who are single and miss the social connections still yearn to get back to an 'office,' as they miss social connections from work more than the work itself! But by and large, employees have adjusted and have even started liking the flexibility of working from home, because they have started (re)discovering life!

To figure out this (newfound) appreciation for life, we need to trace how work has evolved over the last many years for most people. Over the years, we have all been spending more and more time at work. If we add the commute and the twelve-hour days, it was not unusual for us to spend fourteen to fifteen hours simply because we had to. Add incessant travel, workplace socialization time, company events, and conferences; we all pretty much have been living at work. 

Here lies the rub. In many cases, employees spend this much time, not because they have to, but because they want to! Are you surprised at this statement? Hear me out. Over time, work had become the primary 'home' to many, while lives at one's real home took on the aversive characteristics of what one would describe the traditional workplace. Sprawling office campuses with an exotic ambiance, replete with multi-cuisine cafeterias, ping-pong tables, and sleep pods are now increasingly part of the 'utopian' office space, all designed to invoke a compelling experience for the employee. Besides, social events through volunteering (where employees sacrifice their vacation to build houses in the Dominican republic with co-workers), office gyms, even dating arrangments through the office offer an attractive way to fulfill social, esteem, and even self-actualization needs of the employees. The workplace provided not just work but also a community, entertainment, meaning, and fulfillment (at least tried to). The workplace was the sanctuary, not the home. In other words, our work and workplace became an end by itself, rather than its original intention- a means of livelihood. In return, employees were expected to give total commitment to their work.

 On the other hand, life at home took on a different turn. Where possible, 'unnecessary' functions at home like cooking, cleaning, and even parenting (yes) have been outsourced or stripped down to its bare minimum. A new class of service providers has sprung up to take this 'hassle' off your hands gladly. Considered energy drainers, such activities take one's time away from more important, rewarding, and 'enjoyable' work at the office! Children are increasingly self-sufficient and live their own electronic lives that do not inconvenience their parents. If not, nannies and au pairs turn up from all over the world to help. The emotional and nurturing side of life comes from the employer, not necessarily from one's home!. At home, family dinners have become increasingly rare, and it is not surprising to discover that when such dinners do take place, each member is busy slurping down their own take-away and watching a show of their interest on their device. In effect, life has been 'downsized' to the bare necessities; the real family is at work. 

The pandemic turned all this upside down. Bereft of the high-end exotically designed office space/ campus and devoid of the extracurricular activities designed to have employees have a compelling experience, work became, well, just work! The carefully engineered workplace that once 'seduced' the employees to feel that that the workspace was the haven that employees escaped to - a place where they felt supported, and even 'homely'', was now incessant zoom calls, meetings, seven days a week. No wonder that 'zoom fatigue' is real! So as the employees dealt with the outsourced functions of cooking, cleaning, educating, and minding the children, they had to contend with the necessary but less exciting tasks at what we call home. And even more bothersome, they had to regain family muscles of nurturing and companionship once again as they had no one else to socialize within the office anymore. 

Work-life balance was thrown off-balance- by life. And as employees grappled with snacktime, naptime, schooltime amidst zoom time with colleagues, and as helping children with homework began eating into the evening drink with buddies from work, it created stress and anxiety. The workplace had become an addiction for all of us before the pandemic- and people found it difficult to wean off the drug. 

However, over the last few months, a strange phenomenon is beginning to happen. People are discovering life again-at their homes. The small pleasures of going for an evening stroll, cooking and cleaning together with loved ones, and connecting with one's extended family, reuniting with long lost cousins, even if over zoom, have evoked strange yet familiar sensations. Pouring over a puzzle with one's curious ten-year-old, or listening to the unbearable trumpet played by the once elusive teenager, or just enjoying binge-watching something on the weekend with the whole family, has once again become a labor of love—something to appreciate. We are discovering nurturing, compassion, love, parenthood, companionship, connections, and life's meaning once again. At home. Work remains the place to compete and struggle - where we strive to 'become.' On the other hand, home is our heaven, where being is more important than becoming. 

The pandemic has done us a favor, amidst all its misery. It has made us humans first, employees second. Life has become 'richer,' and interestingly, since productivity has not dropped, maybe work has not become 'poorer!'

Maybe we are beginning to realize what work-life balance is all about. And perhaps we never want to go back to what it was before the pandemic.

Do you agree?