What I learned from working a full week in the office

Last week, I decided to run an experiment with myself – to see what it would feel like to transport myself to pre-Covid times and do a full week working from the office.

20 months of pandemic life has made me very, very familiar with my one-bed flat. Everything I love about it, but also its limitations as somewhere to both live and work. Having worked on a lot of change projects and since taking on a global role in April, the boundary lines of where a work day starts and ends have been blurry.

At LinkedIn London, we've been lucky enough to have had the office reopen in a limited capacity in June, and be almost fully open over the last month. My hope in coming back to the office more regularly was to add more structure to my week, create a better work/life balance, and get the benefit of working among colleagues again.

Here are a few observations, and I'd love to hear how anyone else who's been venturing back to the office more regularly has been finding it!

Learning to love the commute

More often than not, I used to let my morning fog guide me mindlessly onto the tube in the mornings, despite knowing the fastest route to the office was by bike.

Caution over Covid and London's cycle hire scheme extending to my neighbourhood helped put me back on two wheels, and I haven't looked back. It's faster, cheaper, and the gentle exercise at the start and end of the day give me space to reflect and relax. Thick gloves are beginning to be needed though!

Productive days that feel longer

This may be a controversial opinion, but I procrastinate less at the office than I do at home, where things from the rest of my life are in the corner of my eye at all times. I feel more focused being around other colleagues and in a work setting, and we are lucky enough here to have sit/stand desks, lots of space, a gym and amazing food and coffee that keep me fuelled up and motivated. I appreciate not every workplace has these perks, and I'm incredibly grateful for the benefits they give me. However, back at home, with no household chore procrastination during the week, we entered the weekend with no food in the house and an enormous laundry pile!

With fewer distractions and breaks in the day, each day felt noticeably longer – and by the time I got to Friday, Monday was a distant memory. By the end of the week, the routine was starting to drain a little and I was ready for the weekend. The structure did help though. With the office now being open longer hours, I was able to finish work at work, with just the occasional few early morning or evening messages. It was Thanksgiving week, a traditionally quieter time for LinkedIn, so it'll be interesting to see if I can keep that up when work is back on full throttle.

Social encounters are a mood booster

As someone who is motivated by (largely self-inflicted) pressure, I can occasionally get into a bit of a stress tunnel in my own company at home. Being around other colleagues brings a levity to the working day and, for me at least, helps keep me on an even keel.

It's been a real joy reconnecting with colleagues on my wider team who I haven't worked directly with during the pandemic. I also bumped into a couple of stakeholders through the week and was able to bounce an idea off them that would otherwise have taken a more considered Teams message, email or call.

While LinkedIn has gone to great efforts to create space for serendipitous connections virtually, there's something different about the casual way you can do this in person. I even had the opportunity to meet a colleague from our Singapore office, who was over on a holiday and text me on the off-chance I'd be in the office and up for meeting.

Would I do it again?

My week in the office really helped me reflect on and appreciate all the benefits it gives me, and I'll definitely be coming in more often. At the end of the week I found myself happy but a little drained. Maybe I'm out of practice, and maybe you can just have too much of a good thing. So for me, variety is going to be the key. While you'll be seeing me around the office most days now, I definitely need a break day in the week to reset, rebalance and... do some laundry.