AS Victorians return to their offices in droves this week, things are getting back to COVID-normal. Again.
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Perky baristas are percolating again.
Greater Melbourne has its peak hour back again.
Imagine being grateful for sitting in traffic because at least you're out of the house for the first time in weeks with a proper coffee in hand and a podcast to boot?! It's always the little things!!
Since 11.59pm last Friday, 75 per cent of Victorian office workers were able to return to on-site work.
Offices with fewer than 40 staff can now have 30 staff on-site subject to density quotients.
Employers have to ensure work premises keep to this limit and that all other staff continue to work from home.
This means organisations can provide plenty of space between workers.
While I haven't returned to working in the office yet, I did duck back into the West Wodonga building this week for the first time in just shy of 12 months.
Time flies when you're reporting in a global pandemic.
I needed help with an IT issue I have been putting off for, let's say, the best part of 11-and-a-half months.
As working from home had happened so suddenly last March, I didn't get a chance to clear my desk or even rinse my tea cup.
I have always worked from home on Mondays, and then the decision was made on a Monday that everyone work from home full-time from Tuesday.
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I never finish a cup of tea, never-ever.
In staying away from the building for almost 12 months, I was really just trying to avoid the spoils on my desk and the remains of my rank tea cup.
Luckily, the cleaning fairies had been through the office since last March.
There was no evidence of tea spills or even a trace of clutter!
The Minimalist aesthetic did not look anything like a working newsroom.
Yet the news has continued to be delivered remotely, from cluttered desks throughout Border and North East homes for months on end.
I never finish a cup of tea, never-ever. In staying away from the building for 12 months, I was really just trying to avoid the spoils on my desk and the remains of my rank tea cup. Luckily, the cleaning fairies had been through the office. There was no evidence of tea spills or even a trace of clutter!
Here's the top six things we'll come to miss about working from home:
- Everyone will miss their dog, right? If you didn't have a dog before the global pandemic, you do now. Maybe even two. If you couldn't access a dog, you definitely got a cat or a turtle or anything that would substitute for work colleagues. My 17-year-old labradoodle always turns up to the home office by 8.15am on week days in plenty of time for the morning news conference. Obviously ancient in dog years, she has appreciated the full-time company and the consistent supply of rice cakes with peanut butter and/or watermelon. On Sundays, she sleeps in until 10am, the same hour as the teen and tween of the house! Dogs are smart and this is why we need them in the workplace!!
- The working from home Zoom corporate wardrobe. Party on top, PJs down below. I haven't bought a new pair of shoes in 12 months.
- You have the toasted sandwich maker all to yourself. You own it; a self-managed jaffle maker or sandwich press. You know when you miss the small window of opportunity to use the toasted sandwich maker at work because an interview runs over or you're out of the office - between about 11.15am and 11.45am - and then there are seven sandwiches lined up in front of your lunch. You're hangry now, right?
- At home no one judges you for eating your lunch at 11.15am! The dog is all the happier about it.
- No commute or parking issues.
- You wake up in the workplace, meaning it doesn't matter if you leave all of the important stuff at home - like the security pass, door key fob-thingy or your lunch.
That aside, it will be good to see other human beings even if we have to share the toasted sandwich maker.
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