Laura — this is an excellent point. Before the pandemic, my company operated with 2 (minimum) in-person days and 3 (maximum) at-home days. This worked just fine because, for the most part, my workflow followed the model you lay out as the ideal — I could buckle down at home with limited distractions, and have more meetings and be more social when I was physically at the office.

When quarantine happened, that workflow shifted drastically to the ‘always-on’ culture. As you pointed out in your article, normal meetings just became virtual meetings, and nobody shied away from 8:00am or 6:00pm calls. Work-life balance basically evaporated, and it was difficult to concentrate when colleagues used Skype and other instant communication tools at all hours of the day.

To your point about how working from home should allow for more flexibility, I absolutely agree. I do my best work first thing in the morning, and I tried (whenever possible) to block off that morning time for individual work and push meetings to the afternoons when I was more tired. Here’s to hoping that more adaptable, flexible schedules will actually be implemented as we shift back to ‘normal’ life!