Working from Home

I am sure all of us remember the beginning of COVID when it seems like everyone’s lives changed.  It doesn't matter whether we accepted the situation or if we tried to fight it the situation unmistakably changed everything.  Going to the store for what we needed was harder than ever before.  Some felt they were having their lives violated by being forced to wear a mask while others felt unsafe if they or others were not able or willing to wear them.  It was for this reason that many were stuck at home far longer than they perhaps ever were before.  Some felt they couldn't go outside their home without putting their lives at risk.  Others were even told they had to remain in doors.  The situation caused an unprecedented change in how our work force operated.  Nearly every person that could have their work environment change suddenly found themselves working from home.  Nearly all accountants, administration personnel, human resources personnel, the field of information technology, even medical personnel, and many more suddenly found themselves working from their own living spaces.  At first there were many who didn't want to start working from home.  Some expressed how hard it was to do their jobs alongside the distractions of home such as kids and their spouses.  They preferred the work life balance they had before with a mysterious invisible boundary that existed between their distinctly different lives.  Suddenly due to COVID their two lives were a blended mess with kids trying to do school work at the dining room table while they tried to take work calls and respond to emails from a desk that used to only get used for holding their mail.  For some it was an absolute nightmare.

Over time however many got used to being confined to quarters.  They felt they were finally getting that time to remain grounded with the family.  Work felt a lot easier too as they could work from that desk safe in the knowledge that they weren't going to be micro-managed from a boss that can walk into the office or cubicle at any time.  While working from home there was no need to hide from checking personal emails, taking a personal call, or taking a few minutes longer to eat lunch.  For the employer work productivity seemed to diminish significantly however.  Instead of working from home some employees were found taking trips to the beach or running their daily lives while little to no work was being done.  It was quickly discovered that while not all employees need micro-management, some absolutely require it.  Without a leadership or supervisor role being nearby some employees will play instead of doing their job.  It's like the old saying goes, “when the cats are away the mice will play.”

Community Affected

As COVID became less of an issue and lives slowly returned to what used to be their lives before many employees balked at the idea of returning to work.  They got a taste of freedom and the idea of being locked back into the work environment was not desirable in the least. Some work forces worked with their employees allowing their task to be completed either partially or completely.  Unfortunately that has slowed the progression towards a country to heal its wounds from COVID.  With employees working from home the community and employers both feel the sting of no recovery as if a scab is being ripped off that wound prematurely.  Public services are more than police, fire, military, and health services.  Sure those things are the obvious necessities of a community but a community is not completely intact if the community needs so much more to sustain itself than those things.  It needs shopping outlets to get their groceries, clothes, school supplies, business materials, and to keep their homes running.  A community needs schools, banks, and restaurants.  Without these things the community lacks its support.  It lacks public services.  When teachers aren't at school teaching the kids important lessons about growing up and socialization aren't being taught.  Our kids may still learn from their text books but social skills are equally important especially when those kids begin shaping our community.  Social skills are always just as important as the skills we learn in a text book.  Having a place to buy clothes, go out to eat, and getting groceries are all equally important.  So outside the personal reasons why as a community do we still want to continue having so many working from home?

Time to Get Out

The answer may be just that.  It's for personal reasons.  It doesn't serve the community at all in fact it's having the opposite effect.  Our communities are hurting.  Is this the only cause of our community's pain?  Absolutely not but its certainly not helping.  We need to get our communities back.  We need to stop relying on our technology to be our social elements.  We need to get back to our core.  We need to get out of our homes and get outside.  We have to get back to our communities, to nature.  We were confined by COVID but since then we have confined ourselves and it's time to get back out.  While getting back to work may seem like the less desirable aspect of all of this it unfortunately is one of the necessary first steps for those still confined.

Walter Kiser - 1/3/2025