I have found it quite hard to make the transition back to the office after having been able to work from home throughout the pandemic.

While younger colleagues have missed the social aspect of work, I have enjoyed a precursor of what retirement might feel like, and it feels pretty good.

Jacob Rees-Mogg might have been calling for civil servants to return to their desks in his role as government efficiencies minister, but he has clearly not weighed up the efficiencies that can be derived from working from home.

I can have my smalls washing on a low-temperature spin at the same time that I am preparing a simple spreadsheet; I can mow the lawn in my back garden in between reading and writing reports; and I can be shopping for Parmigiano-Reggiano at my local Tesco while I am attending a Teams staff meeting on my phone.  Efficient, or what?  Seldom did I ever achieve these same levels of productivity when I was exclusively tied to the office.  Work-life balance in operation.

In fact, there is almost no aspect of my job that I can do better in the office than I can do it at home.  Under those circumstances, there is simply no inducement, which makes me want to return to work in the office.

Except…  Perhaps, one.

I do rather miss the free colour photocopier for printing off all those household documents, which I simply can’t do at home.

© Simon Turner-Tree

Simon Turner-Tree is a bit of a stay-at-home.