During the past years, those of us that could took to a life of remote working. It was a great shock to the system, and for those of you with kids at home, a struggle to keep them motivated and working too.

As we are now slowly moving towards a more normal life, thoughts turn to going back to your workplace and the kid being permanently at school. This would be a good time to sit down and think about if you want to continue to remote work, go back to the office full-time or have a hybrid deal. I hope this blog will help in making that decision and how you implement it. It will help you think about 3 things in this decision:

1. Your situation

2. Home/work space

3. Plannng (as always).

YOU:

With this choice, you have to be selfish. What is best for YOU. If you are unhappy, your life and those in it will see and will also be affected. What worked before may not be the best for you. Think through the pros and cons of the options, what make you happiest, what makes you have a good work/life balance, what make you the most productive and therefore your employers happy.

Be brutal and honest. This is probably the only time you will be able to make a proper informed choice on this. All at work and all at home are the most polarised, I suggest that a hybrid version may become the most popular choice here for most people.

HOME/WORK SPACE

After making your decision, make an audit of your home and work spaces. Do you need to adjust the space at home, make a more formal workspace. At work, do you now need to move to hot-desking, and therefore reduce the amount of personal stuff at work. Can you do things more efficiently in each space?

A good chair is very important and its worth trying a few out an investing in this, as you will be spending quite a while it. Look for back specialist chairs, who can advise of the best type to help you keep healthy. A good desk is also needed, perhaps a stand/sit one - another investment. Take a look at the Tax implications and what you can claim as well.

https://www.backinaction.co.uk/ is a good place to start for ergonimic chairs and desks

PLANNING

Moving to Hybrid working, spending 2/3 days at home and the remainder at work permanently will be a big change for you and your family. How are you going to manage school runs, what about after school clubs, what happens if someone is ill? But in other ways it may be easier to plan, espcially around deliveries, maintenance and work/life balance.

The transition to Hybrid working needs planning. Even if you have been working at home full-time recently, having to go into work a few times a week raises different issues. Spend some time talking with your partner about the split of duties. Don’t take on all of the ‘housework’ items just beause you are at home, you are working as well. Plan out the split for the first few months, then review how this is going after a couple of months. Keep reviewing and adjusting even though you may feel it is working, things change over time.