We have said this already, and we will say this again – ‘Thanks’ to the pandemic, employers are now starting to build a more solid trust culture towards their employees. The latter is supported by companies having had to shift their company’s logistics to such an unexpected need to work from home.
Here are some true facts when it comes to Remote Working in Malta – outlining all the over-romanticization of the subject, and all the while, how keeping it real will help you reap the best benefits from this new working trend phenomena.
It is NOW that it became more real…
Over the past few years we saw different social media platforms bombarded with images of digital nomads; boasting of their work-life balance over a laptop and a cocktail in Bali, or in a remote Italian village over a nice sea view. Remote working was and still is constantly pushed down our throat – rightly so?
Living in Malta where such options were as rare as rain in August – remote working was a choice that most of us just couldn’t have; our employees did not trust us, and the workforce structure didn’t support it. But now, it finally stands as a reality for quite a big number of people.
Challenging timings and rigid routine structures
Your boss gets annoyed and is passively-aggressively remarking that you’re 15 minutes late at work. You feel you’re like a 10-year-old school at school rather than a full grown up woman/man who can handle completing her tasks; irrelevant if it’s in 8 or 5 equally productive hours. That is one notion that needs to be challenged for any sort of work. Working remotely gives ample space and a more realistic structure for employees to work as task-oriented rather than time-oriented.
‘Work anytime’ has its limits as to how it can be productive. We as humans still need a sense of structure; something routine offers. But routine is not one static mathematical formula applicable to all; it’s a fluid notion created specifically by each individual to adapt to her/his needs and the company she/he is working with.
Appreciate the quality of life this brings
However, remote working also means paying attention to not falling into the same traps of lazy comfort zones which would in the first place have discouraged us in our former daily office environment.
Working from home can make you easily fall into a lazy trap, i.e. waking up just minutes before the work shift starts, work whilst wearing PJs and work-stressing-out within your very home living space. There’s no harm in doing this once or twice a week. But working from home within your living quarters (unless it’s properly segregated), has proved itself not very healthy for the mind.
Now! We’re not suggesting overboard solutions for the above. We’re not saying remote workers should globetrot from one place to another and take cool Instas to make theirs peeps all jealous. We’re not even saying, never go work from your office – hey, relationships with your colleagues are crucial. We’re talking simple here. When you do decide to remote work, just wake up, do some exercise, read a book and take some me-time. Then hop to a shower and head to a close-by comfortable café shop.
Maybe you have other friends who work remotely too, and you could do weekly meetups and motivate each other. And why not? There and then, a cheap flight can pop up and you can spontaneously book a 5-day trip and see how it flows. All we’re saying is – make the best of it, and use remote working to strike a more holistic work-life balance.
We all like comfort zones – but that zone can go wide and wild! Talk to your employer and see if you can go remote.
