Tag: work | Career Transition Contemplation

It Happened

It was something that I thought about for many months, really ever since I moved over to my new role at my current company. What happens if things don’t work out?

I believe that both my boss and I understood that we were taking on some type of risk with my move to a new department. Maybe, we both thought it could work, or maybe we both were just kidding ourselves. For me, it was always going to come down to who would blink first.

Well, they blinked.

I was informed this week that my position would be restructured and that my last day would be at the end of this year. Was this a surprise? A little, but not entirely. I won’t say that I performed poorly. However, my heart was not in it and I was stuck doing work that I did not enjoy and even worse did not feel that was much much value to my company. I felt a lot of it was busywork that was part of old processes that were so ingrained that they would be difficult to change, if not impossible.

Now, I have some type of freedom. It was a freedom that was forced on me but I am now free again to pursue something that better suits my skills, experience, and perhaps more importantly, my interests.

For those of you who are looking for jobs – stay strong, stay patient, and let’s do this!

Back to the Office…….?

Well, it happened. After some initial positive vibes about continuing to work from home, it now appears that the company is backtracking and wanting people to come back to the office. They say that people will continue to be able to work from home multiple days a week, but I think we have started to go down the slippery slope of returning on a full-time basis. Not good. Not good.

The good news is that there are others on my team that are also keen on keeping the work-from-home schedule mostly intact. As I find myself becoming more of an outlier – no I don’t share all the happiness of going back to the office – I am working on strengthening my position by doing some research on the benefits of working remotely. One of the things that I did come across was this fantastic quote from work and organization psychologist Adam Grant.

Productivity is Purpose and Process, not Place.

That really struck a chord with me and hopefully, as my company is still working on improving its processes, it will strike a chord with others as well.

Although I had my doubts going into the world of remote work, I have come to like it and feel that I am a better, more focused, and overall more productive employee. Outside of work, the fact that I am home means more time with family, more time to complete all of the household to-dos, and just a little bit more leisure to enjoy a beer at the end of a hard day’s work.

Remotely Considering

remotely considering remote work.

I, as well as many others, were thrust into the realm of work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There was no transition or no planning just a quick order from my company stating that all workers will now be required to work from home. This order was back in the middle of March. Since that time I have been working from home. Now, this is where things get interesting.

Pre-Covid-19 I had very little work from home experience. One rare occasions – afternoon appointment, home repairs – I might have worked a morning or afternoon from home but not more than a dozen or so times.

Having been immediately thrust into working from home I have to admit that I found the first couple of weeks somewhat tough as I needed to find a rhythm. Complicating things was the fact that I was in the group have to home school as well. However, once the new routines were established I began to enjoy whole work from home bit.

First of all, I felt that I had more time as I no longer had a commute to consider or all the morning small talk between entering the building and finding the desk. Secondly, I was in charge of my schedule. No more interruptions unless I wanted there to be an interruption. I do not miss the quick pop-by from a co-worker whose pressing needs were automatically a higher priority than any task that I was deep into. Third was just the freedom to set up my schedule. If I wanted to go for a run around noon and then work in the evening after kids went to bed I could. This definitely improved my productivity. The freedom also extended to my work environment. Moving around inside and outside my home helped me maintain my focus and give me a fresh perspective as well as enjoy some of the late spring and early summer weather.

As I consider the next stage of my professional career I would love to continue pursuing a remote work opportunity. I just feel a better worker, more productive and relaxed with a feeling of more control coupled with independence. Remote work …. here I come.