The Office vs. Your Health

I’ve never really had an issue with working in an office.

I’ve been working office jobs since I graduated university and as much as I hate to admit it, I kind of liked the routine. I’d wake up, shower, make myself a coffee, feed the dog, put on whatever make-up look I was feeling for the day, and then start my morning commute. 

The commute would change, depending on where I was living at the time. For some jobs I’d only have to drive 25 minutes into the office, for other’s I’d have to drive 20 minutes to a train station, and then sit on a train for 2 hours, before disembarking, and walking an extra 5 minutes from the station to my desk. It was a mission, but I always thought it was worth it. 

I never really thought about whether I would prefer to work from home, rather than in an office, until August last year. 

In 2020, when COVID initially introduced the idea of working from home, I was considered an essential worker and didn’t have the equipment to allow me to do my job from home. So, while everyone else became well acquainted with Zoom and Microsoft Teams (depending on which platform your company preferred), I continued with my morning routine, and commute, without much interruption. In fact, my mornings actually became easier as there was less traffic on the road!

However, in August 2021, when my town slipped back into lockdown, I suddenly found myself in a position to work from home for an extended period. I’d worked from home for a day or two, before the lockdown, but only if I was feeling unwell. So, I had no idea how much this new work situation was going to affect me, or how long it was going to last. 

Sweeping Change

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), a Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey conducted in February 2021, showed 41 per cent of employed people surveyed worked from home at least once a week in February 2021, compared with 24 per cent of employed people who worked from home at least once a week before March 2020.

Back then, ABS Head of Household Surveys, David Zago, explained that many Australians expected to continue working from home for the remainder of 2021 and well, they weren’t wrong!

By June 2021, the Families in Australia Survey: Towards COVID Normal found 67% of employed people surveyed were sometimes, or always, working from home, compared to only 42% pre-COVID. As for myself, I fit into the ‘always’ category.

I continued to work from home after my city’s lockdown lifted, and then continued to work from home as cases started to appear in my office building.

Harvard Business Review reported in 2021, that 60% of workers said they would consider leaving their jobs if they couldn’t work from home or were forced to work in the office more than they wanted to following the pandemic. 

You may have heard whispers about The Great Resignation, the economic trend in which employees voluntarily resign from their jobs en masse. It’s been reported that The Great Resignation was fuelled by workers leaving their pre-COVID roles to follow their passions - starting their own businesses and moving on to roles that better align with their values. 

I don’t doubt this to be true, but I also believe another group involved in The Great resignation, are the people who’ve chosen to quit, after realising their work environment was detrimental to their physical and mental health. 

Looking After Yourself

I’ve continued to work from home since August 2021 and to be quite honest, I don’t think I’d like to return to an office environment.

Over the last 6 months, I’ve noticed so many positive changes in my physical and mental health, that have made me wonder whether the office was actually the root of a lot of my health issues. 

In the office, I used to have to wear glasses to prevent eye strain. I also applied eye drops every morning to stop my eyes from drying out and turning red.

After working from home for a few weeks (and accidentally leaving my glasses in my car), I realised I no longer needed them as much as I used to, as I wasn’t straining my eyes as much as I was back in the office. 

Dry eyes can occur following extended exposure to heavy air-conditioning, as the air-con rips out all moisture from the air. You can also develop dry eyes if you’re working in a dimly lit environment, or in a bright space with harsh florescent lighting, and most office spaces usually have one or the other. 

Dry eyes can cause headaches and general discomfort in the eye sockets, something I routinely experienced in the office. It wasn’t until a colleague mentioned how red my eyes were, that I went to an optometrist and discovered what was happening.

Another issue I encountered in the office was high stress levels. This is probably something a lot of people can relate to, or perhaps, you don’t feel stressed in the office at all. Some people find it easy to concentrate in the office, as they don’t have as many outside distractions trying to catch their attention. Others, however, find it harder to be productive, especially those who work in open plan office spaces like I did. 

Open plan offices are extremely common and were designed to have employees sharing a workspace, or “pod” to increase collaboration and productivity. There are little, to no barriers between each other’s desks and to speak to someone, you can just pop your head over a pin board and say hello! However, studies have shown that open plan offices aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

Over the last 6 months, I’ve noticed so many positive changes in my physical and mental health, that have made me wonder whether the office was at the root of a lot of my health issues.

In a study conducted by the Harvard Business School, it was discovered that open plan offices, with limited spacial boundaries, actually decreased face-to-face interaction by 70%. 

The employees surveyed, didn’t feel like they could talk to their colleagues out loud in open offices, with other colleagues being in such close proximity. There was a shared fear of distracting their colleagues, whilst also knowing they needed to speak openly with their direct team members for them to complete their work.

The study also discovered that employees struggled with “privacy”, or a lack of “control over my environment”. The study explained employees can experience social anxiety when they’re unsure if there are any meeting rooms, or offices available for them to have “focus time”, or host “collaborative meetings.”

When confidential information needs to be shared amongst team members, and there’s no private spaces to have those conversations, employees can feel restricted and become anxious about finishing their work on time, as well as accidentally sharing something they’re not supposed to.

When I read this study, I felt a wave of relief, knowing that I wasn’t alone. I would routinely feel anxious in the office because I was afraid of being too loud, talking too much and chatting to a superior about confidential information. 

I didn’t want to distract the people around me. When someone was having an important meeting over Microsoft Teams at their desk, because there were no private rooms available, I’d have to almost tip toe around them (and my own desk) to make sure I wasn’t disrupting their meeting. 

I also felt very exposed in a work environment. When you’re having a rough day, a lot of the time you can find it hard to concentrate as you’re feeling a wave of emotions. On days like this, I usually benefitted from plugging in my earphones, whilst working and taking a few mental health walks when I was struggling to focus. However, every now and again, someone would approach me asking if I was doing okay. Although it was a nice gesture, I knew talking about what I was feeling would make me emotional, and I didn’t want to break down in front of my colleagues.

I felt like I had to bottle up my emotions to be productive, and to also not disturb those around me. Now, whilst working from home, if I’m having a rough day, I know I can let my colleagues know I’m taking a break, walk away from my desk and let all emotions out in any way I need to. It’s liberating, and I’ve never felt less anxious, whilst working.

What’s Next?

I understand that working from home doesn’t suit everybody. Some people still enjoy the commute, the team lunches, and the camaraderie their colleagues present. I understand these people, I used to be one of them! 

I also don’t have kids at home, which can be a major challenge for working parents, especially with the introduction of online learning. When your home becomes an office and a school, the feeling of relaxation and peace you used to look forward to at the end of a long day, can be swiftly taken away. 

All I’m asking is, if we’re healthier, more productive, and in a more positive frame of mind when working from home, should everyone be expected to return to the office?

With the swift rise in remote working, many employers are opting to hire workers from across the country. Also, working away from the office has proven to not hinder productivity for many businesses. So, should we be able to choose whether or not we’d like to return to an office environment?

If given the choice, I would choose to continue working from home.

My body is functioning better than it has for years.

I owe it all to working from the comforts of my own home, and having friendly chats with my colleagues online.

Originally published by OodyKoo.