Like many, the last year has forced Optima to shut the office and go from seeing each other daily to scheduling zoom calls and emailing our latest news. Whilst the shorter commute and later alarm clocks are a nice benefit, here’s just some of the reasons we are itching to get back to our desks!

People, in the flesh!

Zoom and Teams meetings have been a life saver, but nothing beats sitting down face to face with clients, candidates and colleagues. Whether it be that monthly reports meeting, catching up with a loyal client, introducing yourself to a new business or lunching with colleagues, we have really missed people!

Banter;

At first, the prospect of not having to listen to the same old radio station, hear the same colleague moan about the state of the kitchen and having to guard your food draw to stop people stealing your favourite crisps was bliss!

However, the novelty soon wore off …. We miss the office camaraderie. Those fairly mundane interactions throughout the day that give us a chance to get away from our screens to re-charge.  It can be hard to break away from the confines of your home set up, when there is nowhere to go and no-one to see and we miss that.

Separation – leaving work at work:

The Friday feeling – remember it?!

With your laptop always within easy reach, working from home can lead to work and home life blurring.

Whilst working from home has its advantages, being able to properly sign off for the weekend; turn off your PC, walk out the office and leave those emails till Monday was (for a lot of us) a highlight of the week.

Don’t even get us started on working from the kitchen table…..!!

Recalling your day;

Remember when you used to share how your day went with family and friends?!

When you were excited to share good news or re-enact the hilarious highlight of the day or offload, somehow this doesn’t seem to happen so much.

The feeling of leaving to go home and tell someone about your day at the office is something we miss.

There is no doubt that the pandemic has changed the way we work and will continue to do so for many years, with home and agile working becoming more common place, however here at Optima we are counting down the days until we are back in the office.