Now that the initial shock of working from home is over. More and more people are looking for ways to adjust to working remotely in the long term.
Introverts living with extroverts
Even if you have come to an understanding of what you each need in terms of interaction. Living and working together is an ongoing process in communication. It might not be about the alone time. Some introverts also need quiet to be creative. Extroverts when they don’t have external stimulus through people tend to use TV, radio, podcasts. Anything that makes noise. For them it is just background noise but to an introvert that can be super distracting.
Parents
As much as you love your kids working from home and home schooling your kids might be less than ideal.
Scheduling your meetings around your children, food delivery and other things is stressful.
Your workplace might have been compassionate at the start of the pandemic as everything was new and everyone was in the same boat. But now that this has been going on for a few months new norms have to be taken into consideration. How do you find the balance of creating an environment conclusive to work while still being a present parent
Two people working from home
This can sound ideal, but it really depends on the amount of space that you have. If you are lucky enough to have two rooms that you can use at opposite ends of the house with doors that close so you can’t hear the other person and good enough WiFi signal that you can both been on a Zoom call at the same time and it doesn’t drop then you are in a really good position. However most people are not in that position and most people certainly don’t have two offices with ergonomic chairs and a good sized table to make your work easier.
Do you then have to try and coordinate with each other to have meetings at alternate times? What if a meeting runs over?
Teachers
There have been quite a few stories going round about how teachers are conducting video calls from bedrooms or other rooms in their house without first checking to see what personal items are in the camera view. Some teachers are living in shared spaces where the only place they have that is private is their bedroom. This is where they have to be when giving video classes. Some parents might think this is unprofessional but what choice do the teachers have?
All of the things I have mentioned all lead to extra stress in an already stressful situation. Not having a clear time and space to process can be very taxing. I have heard stories of people escaping to their cars and sitting there for a bit to decompress or just get some time to themselves.
Enter re-envisioned co-working spaces
Think about contact less entry and a door to your own space that you can close to keep up with social and physical distancing. A sound proofed place with an ergonomic chair and desk where you can do focused work that gets disinfected between every use. Even if you got to use it once a week for planning, it could make a world of difference to your mental health.
Art galleries with private rooms have now become executive offices as a way of repurposing their space.
Cubicles with doors will become a popular way for co-working spaces to reopen. Just like the first class pods on planes where you are totally enclosed. This is how I see the co-working spaces of the future looking.