WFB (Working from Bubble)

I miss the office. Going to a place, regularly, where there are other humans. Some you work with, some you don’t. Some you like, some not so much. I am of course, glad to be rid of the commute, grateful for the ability to do a load of washing in the middle of the day, and mostly to get to hang out with my Covid dog. But, I miss the office. Laughter, eye rolls, mindless recounting of weekend activities, existential discussions, frustrated rants, birthday cakes, fighting with the printer… I miss it all. I know some who have announced they’d be happy to work from home in perpetuity, and I suppose depending on your personality and work that’s fair enough. Most of us though, are keen to get back into the office, at least part time – and I think it would do all of us some good.

 In what has been a socially and politically extraordinary year, the world has become more fragmented (some even say polarised) even as technological connectivity increases. I know that my experience of the pandemic bears almost no relation to that of my friends in other countries. More concerning though, is that in many ways it also bears no relation to that of people living up the road.

 Most of us recognise that we have been steadily retreating into a digital and sometimes real echo chamber of content, a bubble. As a white, thirty-something, inner-city ‘liberal’, most of what I see aligns with my world view. I am safe in the knowledge that I have ‘science’ and ‘progress’ on my side, and am alternately exasperated and amused by what memes tell me people ‘out there’ seem to believe/do.

 My bubble is pierced occasionally by free to air television or a trip outside of the city and I also spend some time in adjacent bubbles like the one inhabited by ‘boomer’ parents. But mostly I’m just in my bubble, reading about, listening to and discussing views that mirror my own. In fact, as I go down my algorithmically curated rabbit hole I find myself becoming increasingly convinced, not just there is a right and wrong, but that there is a good and evil. Without going into the forces at play here, the result is that I find myself increasingly amazed that people can inhabit the same world as me and come to such drastically different conditions.  

It’s because I need to get out of the bubble. A lot of us do. We’re out of practice engaging with people who are different than ourselves; particularly when you discount confrontational scenarios. The office was/is one of the few spaces left in our adult lives where we could regularly rely on this type of interbubble interaction.

 I don’t want to romanticise ‘the office’ as some cliched watering hole, where creatures great and small gather from across the Savannah. I recognise that there is self-selection in who works where and that for some their workplace is actually the ultimate expression of their bubble, rather than a respite from it. It’s easy to be reductive in imagining the differences between a bank, a tech startup, a local accounting firm and a social enterprise. But in all of these offices I am sure there are people with delightfully surprising stories, experiences and beliefs.

 Many of the most enjoyable, challenging and thought-provoking relationships of my adult life were formed offices, with people from outside of my bubble. We know that this kind of diversity helps with business outcomes, but more importantly on a personal level it makes us more tolerant, more curious and more empathetic.  

 My preconceptions of people were challenged as I developed relationships beyond meeting rooms and out in the world. I got to know and love people from bubbles supposedly incompatible with mine. Some I got to know and not love, but at least I understood them and respected them. It’s hard to do this kind of thing over Zoom. No amount of awkward ‘virtual coffee catchups’ with new colleagues can replace the office kitchen for this kind of relating.

 The challenges we face as we emerge from this surreal year are going to take some serious coming together across economic, political and social divides. We will need to remember how to actually converse, ask questions and generally be together. The office feels like a good place to get some practice in.