Remote Work

Working remote is not really new. Many of us have done that occasionally, some more than occasionally. But working from home for such a long stretch is new to many. Especially with all the coworkers working from home as well. While technology makes it all seamless, it has required some adjustments. 

It is hard to believe we are approaching the one year anniversary of this remote work. I have tried to retain as much of a routine as I can. The morning commute, however, is gone. Parking the car, walking into the office and taking a few moments to start the day are fading from memory. I use the desktop computer to connect to my office network rather than using a laptop. This forces me to to have a dedicated space for working. Symbolically I can climb a set of stairs and go to work and not sit at the couch or the dining table with a laptop.

I realized the deficiencies of the 'home office'  pretty early on. Working occasionally from home is one thing. When you start doing that day after day, you find that the chair you use is not meant for hours of continuous work. The lighting is inadequate. The keyboard is not ergonomically placed. And so on. You develop a certain gratitude for the way your employer had furnished your office space however sparse it may be. I have now invested in a new chair but have not done much else. I probably should move the computer into the spare room.

If we just needed to connect to our work computers or network we will obviously not see much of a difference. But when it comes to meetings, the collaborating or conferencing platforms such as Teams and Zoom provide the necessary virtual space. Again such meetings are not new to many but the pandemic has pushed a whole lot of other things including classrooms and courtrooms into the virtual world. It is kind of surreal to see classes for even children go online in a matter of weeks after the lockdown began.

Hackers initially exploited the situation by breaking into zoom sessions and sharing random and/or obscene content with unsuspecting participants. There have also been instances of meeting participants accidentally showing their indiscretions and being merely embarrassed or sometimes losing their jobs as a result. Others have found themselves ill-equipped to adapt to the new technology. The hilarious case of the 'Zoom cat lawyer' is just the most recent example. Who let the cat out of the bag?

Online meetings by and large are not usually as eventful as the examples above but they do have some peculiarities. Children and pets intrude occasionally. Pressure cookers, blenders, etc. go off now and then. Often people forget to mute themselves or start talking without turning off the mute button. Some are not very adept with technology and struggle to share screen content. Others are working on a laptop with a small screen and it is near impossible to read what they are sharing. Many are working on other things at the same time and when called upon to answer a question they fumble and say, 'Sorry, can you repeat that?'. 

I have to admit that this kind of thing had already started happening even in in-person meetings. Over the last few years, people have been bringing their computers into meetings and burying themselves behind the screen working on who knows what. The lights are usually dimmed so that someone can project a document or spreadsheet on the big screen. If the meeting is after lunch, it is an even bet that some people are nodding off.

The one thing that is most glaring about online meetings to me is that there is no eye contact (well, even in regular meetings if they are like the one in the previous para). If you are looking at the screen, you are not looking at the camera and you appear to others as though you are looking elsewhere. If you are looking at the camera, then you are not looking at the others' faces on the screen. It is an oddly unsettling experience. Since you cannot be looking at another person at the same time he or she is looking at you, exchanging meaningful or conspiratorial glances is not possible. Also, when you look at your face (do I really look like that?) you become self-conscious. 

I wonder how teachers are handling the online classroom. Holding the children's attention in person is hard enough. It must be very difficult to connect with children without eye contact. I think they may also be having to deal with parents more frequently now. Especially the ones that are very 'hands on' with their children's school work. From the children's point of view things must be very odd. It is hard to imagine experiencing school in this manner. 

Almost a year of working from home thanks to the pandemic has made for an interesting work-life balance. Rather it has blurred the line between work and life. Work and home life are intruding into each other like never before. It forces us to be more disciplined about the work day. I think it is important to keep work and home separate but a word on this whole concept of work-life balance. Implicit in this is the idea that somehow work and life are antithetical. Work is some undesirable but unavoidable thing to which we must devote just enough time and no more so that we can enjoy life. Strange! Shouldn't work also contribute meaning to one's life whether done inside or outside the home?