Everything you will and will not miss about working from home

The return to the office is in sight.

In an interview with the Telegraph last month, Chancellor Rishi Sunak claimed staff may quit their jobs if companies and organisations do not reopen their doors. For his part, Boris Johnson sparked criticism in suggesting workers had had enough “days off” and should return to the office soon.

So, some bleary-eyed people on social media are now posting photos of their office views, as they remember how to behave in public for the first time in over a year as lockdown is eased.

Some are pleased to be back in an environment actually made for work, while others came to love their makeshift offices/ beds and are reluctant to leave them.

Here is everything you will and will not miss about working from home:

Everything you will miss:

The commute

The commute from home to home is a blessed thing. Instead of spending the least conscious part of the day in a car, train, tube or bus, walking or cycling, the work from home brigade have had to do little more than move rooms in the last year. If that. Rush hour is now rush minute – when you accidentally snooze your alarm too many times and scramble to jerk your laptop open.This has, of course, never happened to us.

Lunch

One of the best things about working from home is the transformative effect it has had on lunch. For too long, those working in offices have reluctantly chomped away on soggy supermarket meal deals or worse – tottered to a microwave with a plastic box to diffuse the smell of ‘leftovers’ around the room. This is no more and now, office workers can delight in anything that takes less than an hour to make every day. The thought of that being taken away is devastating so whether we will be allowed to bring in a small hot plate and make fajitas as people make calls around us remains to be seen.

Sleep

Sleep is great and when working from home you get a hell lot more of it thanks to the quick commute. It will be a shame to be tired all the time again.

The blurred lines between work and home

The most comfortable of office chairs cannot replace the feeling of the very occasional but much needed horizontal shifts on a sofa, or on a hot day, outside. Again, we have always worked upright at a desk.

The dress code

Many offices have smart casual dress codes but homes? They don’t! Maybe some people get dressed up for the occasional Zoom meeting but we all know the majority of you are in tracksuit bottoms and a semi-acceptable top, or gym kit that you don’t exercise in. Come on now admit it, we’re all friends here.

Everything you won’t miss:

The blurred lines between work and home

In your dreams you hear the noise of email notifications ping. When you eat dinner on your dining table that has become your desk you feel guilty for not working. We all know what happened to Jack Torrance in the Shining when he tried to write a novel while trapped inside a hotel, so you can just imagine what it’s like working in considerably smaller spaces and often with as much snow.

Solitude

Rishi has got one thing right. Humans are social creatures and spending eight + hours a day staring at a screen without company can chip away at the soul. Indeed, one TikTok user has gone viral for his relatable videos about how easy it is to read things into messages from colleagues when they are delivered virtually, not in person.

“What did you watch on TV last night?” and “Did you have a good weekend?” - you are both sorely missed.

Distractions

Post, housemates, family, someone walking past the window, the fridge, the bed? No thank you, no thank you. The sound of other keyboards, brightly lit rooms and the fear of being caught daydreaming? Yes please, yes please.