As offices everywhere begin to slowly, tentatively reopen, the return to the everyday life simply isn’t what we knew. With the covid-19 considered to be under fragile control (and with a potential new wave always possible), there is a host of new rules to consider for the average office worker…if they even return. According to Forbes, perhaps up to 90 percent of the office workers in Manhattan might keep working from home in the months to come (Twitter seems to have even promised their staff they can continue working from home “forever”); additionally, for those 10, perhaps 20% who are returning to work (with the maximum capacity for businesses being placed at 50% tops at present), there shall be many rules to adhere to.
Non-essential common areas of any kind are to remain closed. Face masks are to be worn and provided. Hygiene and sanitation must be adhered to at all costs, and that includes disinfecting shared workstations in between each user. Single capacity elevators, one-way hallways, 6-foot distancing circles around the desks, staggered work schedules…and of course, quite possibly, thermal cameras to keep track of the commuters’ temperatures and the AI on the subway to count how many people are wearing masks (for me, the question here is how and whether the AI will react to especially dark skinned faces wearing dark masks, as I have seen many of the people, men especially, wear them here in Orleans, presumably because they look more “manly”…but in the current socio-political situation, this could in fact lead to further trouble)…all these are the hallmarks of the changes to our lives right now and in the very near future.
For us here in France, all apart from the high-tech ideas has already been in place for a while (to my knowledge), and will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Equally foreseeably, many people refuse/choose not to wear the masks, as well as adhere to many other policies, or do so badly. I honestly cannot count any more how many times I have seen people chatting in the street pretty close to each other, with masks down at below chin level, because it is, I suppose, neither polite nor easy to converse with it over the face. It is both terror and hilarity that such scenes inspire, as we watch ourselves as humans and society try to unravel complexities of our behaviours (results may vary…), but they seem to be predominantly limited to neighbourly interactions – businesses, it would seem, are taking matters more seriously.
But what does this mean for those at work?
The pandemic brought a new form of loneliness to many. There were still people, we still interacted, often, the only difference was that we were working from home rather than from an office, and let’s be real – most people these days communicate via technology. So in other words, you still talked to Pete in Australia via a Skype meeting, you still called Jeanne in France, you still emailed Hans in Germany, and you most likely shared a huge amount of internal emails with colleagues in the same building that you relatively rarely see in person…the difference, however, is that before, you always had the potential of being sociable. And I do believe that this potential is making a huge difference to people right now. Where before, getting a coffee with a couple of colleagues would be a normal thing, as would hanging out at any designated space for socialising, all these activities are now made difficult, impossible, questionable and potentially bear the peril of being judged as “not safe enough” (because yes, that is a response I have observed with some people), and that in itself may influence how we feel at work, about our work, and ultimately how well we work as stress mounts and we get more and more depressed about it. The Forbes article confirms that in a small way…casting an ominous shadow of loneliness over the return to work. Especially if we begin to fear further possible pandemics – which in itself may be influenced by the changes in sanitation behaviours for the more “green” people (such as the uses of toilet cloths for reuse rather than paper and the no-trace policies that mean actual faeces are being carried in backpacks of eco travellers), as well as the greater and greater rejection of medicine and science (including campaigns against vaccination), the isolation and borderline obsessive cleaning might become a new trait of our human interaction. That, in itself, will cause further behavioural issues – such as notions of dirtiness, contagion, etc, even without medical basis vs actually medically questionable practices (yes, I’m thinking the very eco ideas here – which are medically questionable), and that may lead to prejudice and panic. History has plenty of examples to show…including, for instance, the perception of the Black community as diseased, or the LGBT people as disease carriers, two issues that are with us today, and that influence many of our social and political debates.
But even without the world going mad(er?) in a small but significant way, the continued social distancing is likely to influence us. Imagine being surrounded by people, people you like or even like a lot, and being told that you are not allowed to interact. That all your actions must be careful, that they are controlled and monitored and possibly never good enough, careful enough. Thus far, this type of scenario has been reserved for abusive interpersonal relationships – mostly parent to child or spousal abuse. Other than that they may be found in extremist and/or totalitarian cultures – through gender and race segregation, religious shunning and segregation, political control – and what all these have in common is that they always influence the psychology and social capability of the people involved. In other words, especially prolonged exposure to this type of behavioural modification, and especially where there is nothing positive following, can and does and will lead to heightened depression, anxiety, anti-social behaviour, incapability to interact well. Our children are growing up with this as the norm. We ourselves are transitioning from a far more relaxed state into a state in which severe anxiety towards interpersonal contact is a realistic accidental side-effect of being cautious. This ultimately means not only worse human to human relations, but also a lot worse work conditions and efficacy (because stressed people don’t work as well), which is, simply put, bad for business.
Can anyone actually profit from this?
The answer is yes (and we aren’t actually counting the obvious health related profiting here). For the people who are victims of any form of workplace bullying, this may just be the best thing that has ever happened to them. The bullies are perhaps less likely to take to the email or phone to keep at it (most likely, they will double their efforts at home) – these are visible clues to their behaviour. Instead, people who were verbally abusive will suddenly be less able to do so, quite possibly giving the victims some space in which to thrive. Conversely, this may still have a negative effect long-term – if we stop socially distancing and the bullies return in full force (possibly wanting to remind their victims that they still have power over them), we can expect more sick leaves for depression, even more suicides, from the victims, who may have a chance to start to feel better, but who won’t necessarily change so much that they will no longer feel hurt by being singled out this way. Moral of the story, therefore, is that you should take any form of malicious office interaction very seriously, and act instead of letting it slide.
Returning to the more general disposition of office workers under the continuing covid-19 restrictions, I wish to offer a solution to those who are, now, rightly worried about their team.
The solution is twofold – communication and socialising.
Communication – don’t stop talking about the problem. Ask how people are feeling. Make them understand that they are being heard. Let people know that short chats, even short Facetime chats (we were doing it during work from home and it didn’t hurt the quality of it, rather the opposite!), are perfectly acceptable to just keep interacting.
The more you are all in this together, the more you are all working together for this goal, against a common issue, the more you are likely to avoid a complete emotional slump. In fact, I recently read that when facing something as a group, oxytocin is released, causing the group to bond better. In other words, adversity literally makes us love each other more when working together and feeling connected, and that means we are also more likely to feel positive about ourselves, each other, and our roles in any situation – office included.
Socialising – organise office socialising. If you want to play a game together, choose something that can be done simply via the computer. Create little social events (like Zoom at the office karaoke or whatever interests you). Find out what would interest your colleagues/underlings and make it happen. It’s not perfect – but it is much, much better than nothing.
We are most definitely living in a fairly dystopian world right now. To make it less so, there are simple steps we all can take, and they are continued and stronger communication, awareness of what this might do to our mental health and finding new ways to socialise that are as strongly resembling of what we used to do as possible. None of us really know what the future holds, and we must, at all costs, stop ourselves from catastrophising the possible future in any and every way. There is no denying that the measures that are being taken are necessary. But we should not, at any point, have to choose between the greater and lesser evil. Instead, considering the situation and adapting accordingly is our best bet to get through this mess relatively unscathed.