Working from home is now the new normal

Every day this newspaper holds a morning conference to discuss the news agenda for the following day’s paper.

Up until recently these meetings were conducted around a boardroom table, with the assembled suited and booted, hair (mostly) brushed, not a pair of unsightly pyjamas, slipper-shod feet, or Hilda Ogden-style hair curlers in sight.

Not any longer. Like thousands of people across Northern Ireland, our journalists and staff are now working from home due to the coronavirus.

Our daily meetings are by video conference call, offering a tantalising glimpse into the domestic lives of each other.

In true Through the Keyhole-style we have been able to enjoy a good snoop in our fellow homies’ homes.

The one with a nice cream-coloured, country-style kitchen and wicker dining chairs; the one with terracotta dining-room walls...(never would have had him down as a terracotta man); the one with a rather chic garden office.

During our video calls, dogs bark in the background and children have ambled into view as we discuss the unfolding health crisis. It’s nice. Human.

News Letter editor Alistair Bushe said: ‘‘I’m used to some home working, switching on my laptop at the kitchen table when I get home at night to monitor the late pages in the paper, or to update our website at the weekends. But this week has been very different.

“My ‘newsroom’ is a makeshift office in a former nursery room, the walls adorned by the Gingerbread Man, and the floor around me a dumping ground for some unwantables.

‘‘Running a newspaper when you’re miles away from every member of your team in a tiny room doesn’t feel normal initially, but for the first time this week, we’ve used video for our conferences as opposed to telephone calls. It’s enormously useful for maintaining face-to-face contact with my staff, as well as providing an insight into which members of the team are working in their pyjamas (no names) and who hasn’t combed their hair (no names). We’re only a few days into this, and there are challenges ahead if this becomes more long term (not least dealing with two boys who demand attention downstairs), but I’m fortunate that the excellent technology provided by the company still allows me to do my job from home.’’

The pandemic has forced the great and the good from their offices into the comfort of their own homes.

Switch on the evening news and Channel 4’s Jon Snow will be seated in his study in front of bookshelves teeming with erudite reads and artfully placed pot plants. (Jon knows an overflowing laundry basket and rows of dirty teacups don’t give the best impression).

Politicians and other talking heads speak from interior designed living-rooms, all squishy sofas, tasteful artwork and just-so soft furnishings.

Even though the humble office-turned-home worker’s face will not be beamed across the nation, they still need to be mindful of what to wear for the video chat.

It’s fair to say no one expects anyone to don a three-piece suit for home working, but neither is a boob tube and ra-ra skirt or stained tracksuit such a good idea. We should at least try to project some aura of professionalism...even if it’s only on our top half.

For those not used to homeworking, it is indeed a strange new world we have entered.

There are multiple benefits, of course. The exquisite pleasure of not having to travel to the office; the daily commute is now a mere dander from bedroom to wherever, heck, why not just work from bed? There’s no more annoying colleagues to deal with, like John from Accounts clearing his throat with monotonous regularity or Cheryl’s daily updates about her husband’s verrucas.

It’s easy, of course, to time waste when working from home. Lurking aimlessly by the biscuit barrel is a perennial favourite. Snoozing a must. Then there’s important stuff like counting the leaves on the trees outside your window. However, skive all you like, the work will always be there.

On the flip side, if your home is your place of work you can never fully relax – your weekend and weekdays blur into one, and there is no watercooler chat to break up your day or spark a new idea.

While some employees have experienced working from home on a regular or ad-hoc basis, others may feel a sense of isolation from this new working environment and the lack of social contact. For employers to share and to help support employees, International SOS and Affinity Health at Work have drawn on existing evidence and outlined 10 practical advice tips to maintain mental health whilst homeworking.

Dr Rachel Lewis, registered occupational psychologist & director, Affinity Health at Work, said: “Homeworking has, almost overnight, become the standard for a far greater proportion of the working population.

‘‘It is critical to acknowledge that this method of working for over three days a week is often associated with increased mental ill-health and that employees may need access to support through this.

‘‘One of the most crucial psychological risks posed by homeworking is social isolation and many will be experiencing loneliness; on top of feeling anxious and fearful. Homeworking is also likely to have a detrimental impact on our health promoting behaviours, which have been shown to not just be important for physical health but also for protecting psychological health.”

Dr Laurent Taymans, regional medical director, International SOS added: “With millions now working from home, some with the prospect of having family members around, others in isolation, this poses a major threat to the mental wellbeing of the workforce.

‘‘While it is currently planned to be a matter of months for many, for some this could be a catalyst for the evolution of the workplace and the way of the future, if the opportunity is grasped.

‘‘The way employees and organisations both recognise the challenges and the benefits in managing their workload while being remote will be a key driver to keeping motivation, and business objectives, on track through this uncertain and unsettling period and beyond.”

Dr Colin Harper, from Belfast, has worked from home for many years, he says: ‘‘Being a non-fiction author and academic proofreader of nine years, self-isolation is just another day at the (home) office.

‘‘Getting out for periodic cycles and café encounters with freelance friends is the norm, but in abnormal times the essence remains true: fresh air, exercise, screen breaks and serious coffee.

‘‘I have no need for Skype et al. and only rarely for client meetings, so much of my work can be done outside of ‘office hours’.

“The latter is a societal convention, so it will be interesting to see if the new society of unexpected home workers find themselves spreading a day’s work from, say, nine to midnight.

‘‘I’m used to late-night working on occasion, and it can focus the mind. However you do it, a good work ethic is essential. Being your own boss means looking over your own shoulder, as it were; those used to a set-times hierarchical environment may find the lack of structure disconcerting.

‘‘They may, though, find that 90% of those meetings really were pointless. If you have work, do it by the time agreed with your (remote) boss or client. You’ll get paid, and capitalist society will survive. Don’t panic… unless the coffee runs out.’’