Why I’d never be able to return to full-time office working

Olivia Petter, The Independent

The low point came at 5am one December morning. It was sub-zero outside and the gate outside my house had frozen shut, which meant I needed to throw my backpack over the top and climb over — and do it quickly because I was already running late for my 7am start. Bag successfully launched onto the street, I began my ascent, instantly regretting the decision to wear a skirt.

Of course, I got stuck. Then my tights caught on a splinter and by the time I’d wrangled my way down the other side, they’d laddered all the way up my legs. When I finally reached the Tube, I bought myself a large Americano to drink en route. Somewhere between Finchley Central and Notting Hill Gate, most of it had spilt onto my top (white, inevitably). This is just a snapshot of my past life as an office worker — coffee spillages were a recurrence. Other vignettes include being made fun of for my sad, stinky packed lunches, forgoing underwear in the afternoons because I’d once again forgotten to pack clean knickers to wear after the gym, and falling asleep outside the pub after otherwise unmemorable work drinks. One morning, I rocked up to work after having unexpectedly spent the night elsewhere (Hinge date) and, after quickly realising my backless dress wasn’t appropriate workwear, was forced to spend the day in a giant Jeremy Corbyn Christmas jumper I’d found under my desk. It was April.

Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. I look back on my office days with sentimental nostalgia, mostly because I know how well shot of them I am. There’s no way I’d go back to working full-time in an office now, not even if they stuffed a load of kittens and free pastries in there — though that would certainly make the offer more tempting. Working from home, as I do most days, has been a lifeline for me. I’m more productive, my energy levels have improved, and I feel generally much happier. I’m not the only one, either. Recently, reports have circulated that women who work from home are more likely to thrive than those who work in an office. According to research from the International Workplace Group (IWG), 67 per cent of women believe their professional growth has been positively impacted by hybrid working, with 81 per cent claiming they’re more productive and efficient.

This is despite people such as Nationwide chief executive Debbie Crosbie arguing that remote working hinders a woman’s progress. “What we find, certainly at Nationwide, is that men are more likely to come into the office than women and we need to be really careful that we don’t prevent women from accessing ‘development-watching’,” she said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. From my personal experience, I couldn’t disagree more. I do sometimes miss the camaraderie that naturally develops when you’re spending 40 hours a week with the same group of people — I met one of my closest friends at work and will be attending her wedding this summer. But since the pandemic, which is when so many of us started working remotely, I’ve realised how much better suited I am to a hybrid approach. I enjoy my own company and also happen to have an indoor cat, which means needing to be at home a bit more.

Generally, working from home gives me greater flexibility around how I can manage my time, which I feel like I have a lot more of. It also means not having to commute so frequently, and rarely during rush hour. Given that I don’t drive or ride Lime bikes — mostly because of the not-driving thing, which means I don’t feel safe on them — this is a real bonus that allows me to skip suffocating Tube carriages. My tolerance for commuting has, unfortunately, shrunk right down. So, as fun as it was, the chaos of my full-time office days is behind me. Although, who knows? Maybe another unprecedented global event will change all that and I’ll be back to clocking in every morning at 7am. And hey, maybe by then I’ll have adapted and find it alright – just as long as I don’t have to dig out the Corbyn Christmas jumper.