Hybrid work is coming

My first job was at a wine store, in Lisbon. Face-to-face customer service, selling Portuguese traditional wines to tourists downtown. Then again yet another face-to-face customer service selling technology and landline contracts for the main phone operator. The opportunity to work for the main airline company followed. I originally intended to apply for air hostess but was too short. I was offered an alternative, which I took, as my contract with the employer at the time was coming to an end. It was an administrative technician role. I was still dealing with people, but this time internally, for the Maintenance and Engineering HR department. Whilst many people were getting into the “call centre” trend at the time, I tried staying away, because I have, what a usually call, the social bug. I’m happier around people.

When moving to the UK, I managed, in one way or another, to keep that. As a freelance Public Service Interpreter (because I always had a fall for languages), I kept that social craving, helping my fellow nationals communicate with public services. But alongside that, because over the years, as the rates offered decreased, I was doing the odd translation job, to bring more money in, and eventually had to consider doing Remote Interpreting. This was back in 2006. When I became a mother, freelancing was no longer viable and had to go back to real-life employment.

I strongly believe the pandemic only forced what was to become normal in the long term anyway. We were just delaying the unavoidable. Businesses were hesitant to have their staff working from home: in overheads, it makes financial sense, but how to trust they’re going to be productive, how can remote working employees be monitored? With internet speed increasing fast and more and more SaaS and other cloud-based systems bringing solutions forward, this is now a reality: the wonderful and weird world of Teams training and meetings.

My first employment working remotely was as a Service Desk Analyst. I applied online, got a phone call with the offer, training was online - dreadful! Especially considering it was for a huge IT company. Their systems were slow, shadowing was just impractical. I was there for nearly a year. Most of the role was forcefully self-learned. Only went to the office a handful of times, just before I quit. It was definitely a different experience.

It is hard to say how many lockdowns we have been in so far, as its definition is constantly changing. The UK Government is now easing on the mask-wearing and testing rules, to show Europe British numbers are going down: no testing, no positive cases. So, easing the Christmas 2021 “lockdown” by introducing the hybrid work, where we work partially from home, partially from the office.

It’s actually more stressful working from home every day because I don’t really get the break, as I always feel the need to fill in every spare minute I have. Been training my brain to draw a line between work and rest during breaks. If I were in the office I would be going for a walk at lunchtime, or would sit in the car for 45 mins reading a book, maybe…? Hybrid is the way forward for me. I get the productivity on the days I'm remote and I can liaise with other teams on matters that require their more swift intervention when I'm in the office.

Plus, I like the physical interaction side of work. We get to create stronger personal and professional bonds, which positively contributes to productivity. And I enjoy the drive, the workplace and its location. I guess I’ve just been a lucky bunny.