by Abbi Naylor
Note: WFH = Work From Home… Darn Millennials
The current pandemic has flipped the working world on its head. As many of you have experienced firsthand, many offices have turned to remote working conditions to keep the virus spread at bay. Our office in particular is reducing direct contact by shifting some of our employees to working remotely full-time. All other staff members have been socially distancing their workspaces around the office which, to be fair, isn’t too difficult in a big warehouse. MacKenzie was already on a part-time remote schedule but has since shifted to working full-time from her home “office.”
Even before the shutdown, MacKenzie found time to stay home and work on sewing projects, which has earned her the office nickname “Modern Grandma.” We miss her around the office, so I chatted with Mack to see how she was adjusting to her work-from-home experience (and to check on Finn).
Q: How are you adjusting to the “shelter in place” orders?
A: Is it wrong to say I love it?! This is an introvert’s dream!
Q: Do you have a good office set up or are you improvising?
A: I can’t complain – views to a sunny, green, landscaped front entry to my right, and a handsome fella to my left (this description applies to both my husband, Luke, and my dog, Finn.).
Q: What are your distractions?
A: Finn, the kitchen pantry, and when my bartender (Luke) starts happy hour before I’m finished working.
Q: What do you like about working at home?
A: All the extra time and money I have for my modern grandma hobbies – gardening (aka trying not to kill the plants), cooking (yes, it’s mostly edible), and quilting (Hey – they are modern, geometric, graphic patterns, ok?).
Conservatively speaking, in the last eight weeks I’ve saved over $500 in gas and 90 hours in my car – that’s two full-time work weeks! My sanity and the Los Angeles skyline are secretly thanking COVID-19!
Q: What do you dislike about it?
A: That I’m sitting at my desk instead of launching water balloons over the fence at the neighborhood kids playing outside.
Q: How has this experience affected your views on the way home offices should be designed?
A: For starters, office desks probably shouldn’t be located in the living room. When I worked remotely previously, my husband wasn’t around so I had plenty of quiet concentration time. With him home almost full time, some days I feel like I’m in the middle of a world war when he decides it’s Video Game Tuesday. If he decides to do a YouTube workout, I’m instantly transported to a 24-Hour Fitness aerobics class — a manly one, though (he wanted me to add that).
One of the best, but unintentional, features of my current setup is the set of drawers that slides under my desk. When I need space to lay out some construction documents, I’ve got an extra desk surface. When I’m finished, I push the set of drawers back under the desk.
In summary: a dedicated, quiet space would probably be the smartest choice to reduce distractions. But if you don’t have that, flexible desk space (like my roll-out drawers) is a must!
Q: Do you and Finn miss the office yet?
A: Finn keeps giving me this look like “Can we pleeeeease go to the office today?” It’s either that or he wants to go to the dog park. Still TBD…
Q: What do you look forward to most when all of this is over?
A: Talking to my neighbors without yelling the whole conversation across the street, having a sandwich from Wax Paper (the yummy sandwich shop across from our office), and of course getting to chat with my awesome coworkers in person!
