The pandemic has been one part monkey wrench and one part magnifying glass. It has severely disrupted how we worked and if we were able to keep our jobs. While many individuals lost their jobs (DATA), a large population of workers were forced / invited to work from their home. While we understood that there were pros and cons to working in an office, we soon discovered that there were pros and cons to working from home as well. We are currently in a reality where mandatory in-office work, hybrid work, and fully remote work represent the new working environment. 

As an individual, how does this new working environment impact my life? 

How does the way I work bring me Energy and what parts of it weigh me down as Baggage? 

The pandemic allowed us to take a closer look at how “we live to work or work to live”. It has also raised many questions like, “Why was I commuting to the office everyday?” to “Why do I feel disconnected from my team?” Burnout, languishing, and quiet quitting are real results of our forced rapid transition while we at the same time woke up to our personal realization of life and work.

One of the many things that we do well at Empathy Lab is gather data and in this case, we are starting where we always start - with an Inventory of our Energy and Baggage as it pertains to work. During Empathy Standup on Wednesday, October 19th, a group of us got together to discuss what was bringing us Energy and weighing us down as Baggage as it pertained to in-office vs virtual work. 

What we do know from this exercise is that one size doesn’t fit all! In-office provides some things that virtual cannot AND virtual work provides benefits that in-office cannot. We are complex individuals, in different seasons of our lives with interesting mixes of responsibilities and dreams. Trying to box-in complex people into a single, profit-favored system represents an antiquated approach to company culture. Highly collaborative and innovative company cultures now and into the future will require more than a box for people to work in, they will require a playground for people to explore, gather around, and play + work within. Some might say that hybrid is the answer and I would disagree only because it’s too simple. While hybrid might represent two ends of the organization’s working spectrum, hybrid is just the bounds as we know it to the playground in the middle. Leaders cannot be stagnant when it comes to cultivating and sustaining culture any longer. Like all other natural things that we love and appreciate in life, Leaders will now have to dedicate themselves to supporting their culture like it is a garden going through its seasons. 

So, as we build this new working reality - what’s bringing you Energy and what’s weighing you down with Baggage? Talk about this with your colleagues, leaders, and interns. Be curious and learn from each other. If you come up with some thought provoking ideas, please share them with us at Empathy Lab so that we can evolve with you.

With energy,

Shelton