Do you also miss the Office Vibes, or Are you Normal?
Another lockdown due to Covid and possibly another year to Work From Home!
People say that's convenient, but for new bees like me, it’s a sad experience as we don’t get the feel of being at work.
When I went up for my first corporate experience, a part of me was fascinated with the thought of being in an office, meeting new people, and get a feel of that so-called professional culture. The kid in me was excited and nervous at the same time. I am sure those who have had an office setup experience agree that it's surreal; the vibes impact and reflect us.
Inevitably due to the ongoing pandemic, WFH became a new normal, and we all are trying our ways to ace this path as well. But still, there are days when I miss being in the office so much, which often makes me think, what exactly I miss about the office? Is it the work style? Well, thats’ been corrected and created here at home as per our comfort levels. Is it meeting new people? Thanks to the VC facility, we are still able to tap through people across domains. Is it team bonding? Woho, periodic team connects, and informal calls have worked well to bond us together as a team or provide us with the comfort of reaching out to people anytime.
So, What is it? You also take a moment and think, what is it that you miss about the office?
Well, I sat and thought through! What I really miss about the office is the experience of being at a certain place which I call my workplace. This bias is also called the associative bias, one of the cognitive biases as per behavioral theories. When we travel to offices, we automatically get into the work zone, plan the day and look up to meet those recognizable happy faces. When we travel back from work to home, we think about how our day was and inescapably start to think about our personal life and how’s that been, or what activities we will do once we hit our rooms.
No matter how we crib about the traveling to and fro from offices (my travel time to and fro from office was 3.5 hours daily in my last job), but that activity clearly has helped me in unique ways which I didn’t realize earlier. Today, when I walk past my previous office, all the experiences and moments just flashback into the head, and I still think- Oh, my previous organization! Isn’t this strange that as humans, we can never leave behind our old connections, be it with people, place of things?
Hitting to the office had a pattern attached to it- You get ready, travel to the office, get on your desk, greet everyone as you enter the office gate with a smile, you see some known unknown faces, hop onto your fixed seat in the canteen and grab a cup of tea/ coffee, start your day checking emails and so on—those quick face-to-face conversations and chit-chatting during breaks indirectly aiding an informal connection. I don't know, but everything used to be so real. Today we are trying to do the same stuff and make it work, but that connection is a miss, or I should say that connect is virtual.
Maybe that’s why it is always claimed that be in the moment and live in the present. You never know what the future holds for you. Hoping for a time soon where we would be able to travel to our offices daily without fear!
Well, till then, I will slay my current work scene from home! What about you?
