I sense it’s altogether unnecessary to mention the number of weeks that have passed since lockdown, as most people are counting the days themselves, and some are even counting the hours. There isn’t much else to do but wait for the days to pass, now is there?
I’ve had some time to contemplate about life, as I’m sure everyone else has, or soon will, being stuck at home with nary a thing to do. I’ve considered the work-life balance that society has been struggling with for generations. The economy and the work-life dilemma is easily summarised: you want to work as little for as much pay as possible, whereas companies need you to work as much for as little as possible. We meet in the middle where workable hours and market-defined salaries meet.
During lockdown, I consider that there are three main groups of employees – essential workers who still go to work every day; quasi-essential workers who can work from home; and unfortunately, those whose companies have closed completely and are forced to stay home. I’m very fortunate in this regard, as journalists currently operate at normal working hours, albeit from the comfort of their homes.
Also Read:
https://www.citizen.co.za/krugersdorp-news/422412/watch-make-your-own-disposable-face-masks-with-your-enter-newspaper-name-newspaper/
We still source, research, follow up, compile and write news stories every day. We do go out, though we try to limit our outings to necessity.
Being that most of everything is closed and put on hold, we can no longer go out to sporting or social events, which make up quite a large portion of the news. Instead, we can now pour more of our attention into municipal and crime stories, or general profile pieces. Over the months and years we have carefully cultivated important contacts in authoritative positions. During lockdown, relationships with these media partners are invaluable. A few phone calls, emails and press releases later, we have the information the public needs.
For the most part, we work eight to 10 hours a day, as we did before lockdown. Fortunately, we work in a digital medium. Our articles are all published online, the program on which we write and submit stories is web-based, our inter-team communication occurs on the regular, and we contact interest groups easily through our smartphones. Even our newspapers are designed digitally and sent to the printers electronically.
What this lockdown has shown us, is something that has been said by experts on this subject since the 1990s at least: we live in a digital age and most of our work can be done from anywhere in the world, especially from home.
With mobile networks and fibre internet becoming more accessible than ever, there’s very little reason for the traditional working hours to continue. Through many studies, most workers claim that they only work for a few hours a day at an office, and spend the rest of the time just, well, wasting time until it’s time to go home. Thence they get to sit in traffic for an hour or two, as they did going to work that morning.
If all of the day’s work can be done in, let’s say, five hours, why spend so many more hours in an office and in your car? Lockdown says, there’s no reason for this. In fact, many studies (readily available through a simple online search) say that people working normal office hours get less done than those working only when they need to. I for one focus a lot more when I’m in my home office, alone with a cup of coffee, with no co-workers to distract me (or me to distract them). I can easily write the same number of stories within four hours at home as I do in eight hours at work. This, it seems, is a similar situation for any other employee working in the digital landscape.
Sure, hands-on industries will always exist. There will always be a certain percentage of the workforce who’ll need to be at a particular location to do their work. But, so many others are not bound by the same restrictions.
Through my contemplation during this time, I’ve decided on a dream world. Here, the office setup still exists. It’ll be important to go into work at least two or three times a week, for a few hours at a time. During these in-office periods, important face-to-face meetings can be held and certain tasks will be completed, which can only be done at the office. At about 11am, you’re free to go home and complete the rest of your work there. You can phone and email clients, type up your reports and create your spreadsheets as you would at the office, and you can go out to meetings with interest groups whenever you need to.
As many companies internationally have shown, you’ll probably get more work done in less time, with your output being of a higher quality as your quality of life increases, owing to the fact that you have more time to spend on your personal needs, your friends and your family.
And so ends my contemplation of what the lockdown has shown can be done. I would love to read your comments on this subject and find out what you think about more fluid work hours.
