Working from home is still working...

Over the last week or so (during which time many people have been working from home full-time for the first time) I've been hearing a lot of talk about how much harder things are working from home. Some of this has been from long-term home workers who are finding that with all their colleagues working from their own homes, their working dynamic has changed. In order to understand the issues, I've had a lot of conversations - probably adding to the disruption, but as you'll see, also giving people a chance to flag up how things are working better for them, as well as to vent about what's bugging them.

Home workers currently divide primarily into three groups:

• Those who are full-time home-based (I'm including people who travel in this, as their home is their primary office) and are part of 100% remote teams obviously aren't seeing much different and are working as normal (although those who now have their children at home full-time are having to adjust their work patterns - something that they point out that they have to do during school holidays anyway).
• Those who are home-based members of office-based teams say they're now having more meetings - but are also feeling more included as with everyone remote, the conversation isn't focused on those in the room in the same way.

"Meetings are very different now everyone is remote rather than just one or two of us. There are no private chats where people forget to unmute themselves that those of us not in the office don't hear. We're much more of a 'team' now in some ways."

• Those who only work from home occasionally seem to have the same experience as the group above.
• Those who are usually office-based say they are having a lot more meetings, but some are also finding themselves more productive without the time and stress of their commute. Ironically in some cases this is because they are able to draw a better distinction between home and work:

"Without the commute I have more time to get things done at home, so I don't constantly have a list of things I haven't done or need to do at the back of my mind while I'm working."

All but the first group say that their working day is a lot more disrupted. My first thought was that this was to do with the technology - more people remotely accessing systems or using cloud-based collaboration tools. But it isn't - one CIO told me that their organisation has gone from an average of 600 people working from home to over 10 times that, without any significant technical issues. It appears that is primarily a cultural and behavioural issue. And some people are struggling with this:

"How can it be easier to ignore banal chatter from colleagues when they're in the same room than when they're not? My company has decided that constant communication is the answer to remote working so I'm constantly bombarded with video calls, Whatsapp messages and chats in Teams. With that and the usual volume of email, I don't know whether I'm coming or going."

Why is this happening? There are a number of common threads, which seem to boil down to two key drivers:

• Management style - managers who aren't used to managing remote teams are setting up a lot more meetings to 'check in' with their team members. The real insights here come from the remote members of primarily office-based teams, who say that their managers seem to feel that now they can't physically see the majority of the team sitting at their desks, they need meetings to check progress and confirm work is being done. These kind of checks would normally be quick passing questions, or conversations by the coffee machine or over lunch. They're now meetings.

"Apparently when constantly being asked how I am feeling 'irritated because people keep interrupting me' is not an appropriate response."

• Loneliness - staff who aren't used to being at home are missing the social interaction within the office and are setting up meetings where, again, they would normally have an informal chat. This isn't making everyone happy:

"A video call was set up to have a natter about non-work things and no one could think of anything to say, then within the hour there was a big back and forth on Teams about what people were having for dinner!"

"No, I don't want to see more photos of your pets or gardens, or humorous gifs. I just want to get on with some work."

Both of these are resulting in loss of productivity/less availability/longer working hours. So what are the solutions?

• Managers need to trust their teams. They can still get stuff done. You don't need to set up more meetings, and if your teams want a daily catch-up, then schedule it and limit it to 15 minutes with any issues raised flagged to deal with separately. Use 1-2-1 calls and online chat facilities for ongoing support, queries and updates. Not everything needs to be a meeting, involve teleconferencing services and have to be scheduled. You can still be spontaneous and available, but on your own terms. You should block time out for specific tasks you need to achieve so that your team know when you're busy. And you can work 'offline' to give yourself the space you need to concentrate.

"I'm closing Teams and email between meetings and let them get on with it. No one has noticed yet as I join in around meetings and then drop out."

• Use online chat tools to have ongoing, informal discussions through the day (what's for dinner, toilet paper jokes, pictures of your cat). The advantage of this over stopping to chat in the office is that people can ignore you more easily if busy (or even set their status to Do Not Disturb). People who are available and also want to chat will respond or reach out to you. It's OK to send a message saying 'Quick question - blah blah... message me when you have time'. Don't phone them on the off chance - phonecalls are disruptive and should be scheduled or at least agreed to. Chat is something you can both engage in when it suits you, and without the need to put aside a large chunk of time for meetings. Snow's 'virtual Fika' is a great way to put time aside for larger groups of colleagues to connect informally at a mutually convenient time.

• Respect your colleagues' standard working hours. While these might be flexible in some global organisations and some roles, where people normally work fairly fixed hours in the office and commute to and fro, you shouldn't assume that their working hours have expanded to include these hours, or that they have nothing to do outside them (remember, some of them now have to home school their kids as well as work).

"I hate the fact that the working day is now considered to be between getting up and going to bed by some people."

"I'm not normally in contact with my colleagues outside working hours so I don't see why now should be any different? The feeling seems to be that keeping in contact will be good for our mental health but its having entirely the opposite effect on me."

Finally, bear in mind that all of us have different working styles, and some may find it easier to adapt than others. Some people are discovering the benefits of homeworking for the first time and appreciating it.

"Now people aren't constantly dropping by my desk, I can focus more. I can control my response to messaging apps and phonecalls much more than I can a physical interruption."

Others may be finding it harder. Have a think about how you normally interact with people and try to work the same why while remote. At the same time, keep any eye out for those who are normally the outgoing, chatty ones - if they're a bit quiet, then reach out and ask whether they're OK. They may be finding it difficult to adapt to a work style that's less open to spontaneous, ongoing chat.

What am I doing? Well I normally work from home, but am obviously spending far more time here now my travel has been cancelled. So I've been taking Beth Kaminski's advice and doing more yoga!