10 things to do to make the transition back to work successfully
• Be Humble. Humblebragging is so 2020. No one wants to hear about how you taught your dog to juggle and your toddler calculus while loving every second of the lockdown with your fantastic family of kids that never argue and a spouse who does 95% of the housework and cooked gourmet creations three meals a day.
• Don’t Be Too Humble. At the same time, we don’t want to hear about how tough it was for you. It sucked for us, too, and we don’t need to know how much worse it was for you. It’s time to move on and let the rest of the 20’s roar!
• Be Hygienic. Seriously, if you even so much as have a tiny inkling that just maybe you might be getting sick, stay home! If we learned anything from COVID, it is that germs spread. If you absolutely have to get your work done even though you lost your voice and have just a “slight” fever, fire up the Zoom, dust off the sweatpants and work from home until you feel better. You did it for a year and a half, so you can do it for a few more days without the company going bankrupt in your absence.
• Lose the Sweatpants. It was fun while it lasted, but now it’s time for some decorum in the office.
• Visit the Tailor or buy new clothes. A lot has changed over the intervening year, and for many of us, the biggest mover was the waistline. So either take in (or let out) those waistlines. If you can afford some new threads, why not splurge a little bit to celebrate the return to in-person communication?
• Clear Your Desk. Even if you are not sharing your desk, do the cleaners a favor and clear your desk every evening. Not only does this provide an excellent way to wind down your workday, but the process helps reduce the likelihood of transmission from coffee cups, soda cans, and the other diestrus of the day.
• Take Advice from Sting and “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.” Introverts quietly celebrated social distancing, and they would be ever so grateful if we made it a lifelong habit. I mean, we like you and everything, but please stop leaning on the back of our chairs when standing at our desks.
• Be Tolerant. Just because you are raring to return to the new normal does not mean that everyone is as comfortable stepping out from lockdown. Be mindful of others who may need an encouraging word and a little patience.
• Build New Habits. Returning to the office after working from home provides an excellent opportunity to retune your habits and increase your productivity. If you take a few moments to think about your routines and where they break down, you might just make your workday that much more productive moving forward. Also, take stock of the new technologies that have been incorporated into your workplace. We all may be sick of Zoom, but it might be the best way to touch base with a co-worker one floor below for quick catch-ups. From Google Sheets to Slack and Dropbox to Evernote, there are lots of technologies that have become commonplace in the work from a home era that can be adapted to value add for the in-person work revival.
• Show Some Love for the parking professionals at Harbor Park Garage. Our dedicated team of essential workers has been working full tilt and in-person while you were away. We have enhanced our already rigorous cleaning practices, and we took advantage of the slow time to continue the enhancements to the garage. Let us know what you think. We had some lonely days while you were working from home and what we missed was seeing your smiling faces.