How do I re-adjust to working from the office?

Dear Moses,
I have been working from home for nearly three months thanks to Covid-19. I had settled into the whole business of working from there with a workstation and all that. However, at the office, they have started inviting us back and two days into it, I’m already feeling like I wasn’t ready to be back, how do I re-adjust? Gerald.

Dear  Gerald,
The Covid-19 lockdown and the aftermath accelerated the new normal of working remotely. However, as life slowly grinds back to normal, with the phased lifting of the lockdown, some organisations are inviting more employees to report on-site for work. 

However, its interesting to note that people, who once found transitioning to remote working as tough, are now surprised that making the move back to a physical office is a more challenging shift, and, that’s exactly what you are currently experiencing. Rachell Buel gives a few tips that can make the transition back to on-site working as painless as possible.

1.  Make Yourself at Home, ie, try as much as possible to transfer the comforts and conveniences you got used to at your home office to the office environment. Simple things like carrying your coffee flask or homemade lunch box can make the desired difference.

2.  Stick to Your Routine, ie, try to stick to some semblance of the familiar routine that used to help you become productive while working remotely, back into the office routine. For example if you used to work productively in the first six hours of the day, try as much as possible to stick to that and reserve meetings for the afternoons. The important thing is to diplomatically communicate this preference to your boss and co-workers.

3.  Be Communicative, ie, working remotely pretty much demands constant and proactive communication with your team members. Likewise, when you return to the confines of brick and mortar, don’t be tempted to assume that everyone is on the same page (or that people will pop in if they need anything) and then relax your detailed communications.

4.  Limit Office Buzz, ie, moving from total isolation and relative quiet at home and then back to an office buzzing with activity and chatter can be disorienting.  And while that can be a welcome change, it can also be tough to keep the same level of productivity when you’re suddenly surrounded by side conversations.

Moses Ssesanga,
Head of Human Resource, 
NMG Uganda
[email protected]