Editor’s Note
‘The brain is a wonderful organ,” wrote American poet Robert Frost. “It starts when you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get to the office.” Of course, he was referring to a time when we had offices to go to. These days, without the structure of the workplace, my brain has no idea when to stop, and so it keeps going, day and night, incessantly checking emails, looking at social media to keep track of what I’m missing, and partaking in after-hours group WhatsApp conversations about work. These are usually initiated by me, though I know well which colleagues not to include in them — the ones with healthy boundaries.
The biggest problem with remote working is that it makes it hard for some people to take breaks. And to be effective, breaks should entail true disconnection from work. “Which is to say that we need to be able to slip off our electric leashes,” says Adam Waytz, a management professor at Northwestern University in the US. France and Spain, he adds, have made the “right to disconnect” from afterhours work communication an actual legal right, and German car manufacturer Daimler has gone further than most companies in establishing “full mental-bankruptcy protection” for its workers. When employees take time off they can choose to have their incoming mails destroyed on their return to work. Senders just get an e-mail informing them of such. How wonderful? And the world keeps turning.
Yesterday’s public holiday, Workers’ Day, got me thinking about the things that’ve changed about work over the past year. The day is celebrated in 86 countries, mostly to mark the success of the workers’ protest in the US in 1886 for a work day of just eight hours.
Now, working from home, all that may be lost.
But the structured timeframe for work isn’t the only thing I’m missing about the office. It’s the impromptu coffee gatherings, the knowing eye-contact with co-workers, even the sneaky champagne celebrations served from a teapot.
Sure there are perks to working at home, but I think I might be ready to give that up to see my work friends again. After all, it’s the people, not the ergonomic chairs, that make me want to go back.