Hi Jill. Reading through this post made me reflect on my own work history. My career path is unusual for the Gen X cohort: I've been working for the same company for 31 years. Fortunately it's a multinational company which has grown tremendously during my tenure so it's provided a lot of variety and interesting experiences. You get to meet and work with a lot of people in 31 years. So while the transition to WFH was really, really weird for awhile I've adapted and I'm officially on a hybrid work plan (but I've been given a lot of freedom to WFH due to some of the odd hours I have to work).
But the prior 28+ years made it easier to transition to WFH because I've been working with many of my colleagues for a long, long time. It must be tough to transition to a new employer without being able to form those in person bonds, so I have some sympathy for people who are taking on new jobs with a lack of in person support.
Having said all that, you do lose something when you can't see your colleagues in person, so it's a definite pleasure when you see someone in person that you haven't laid eyes on in almost 3 years.
It's true, the transition to remote work with familiar colleagues would be a totally different experience than trying to form bonds with people you will likely never meet. Thanks for this perspective, Mark!
Hi Jill. Reading through this post made me reflect on my own work history. My career path is unusual for the Gen X cohort: I've been working for the same company for 31 years. Fortunately it's a multinational company which has grown tremendously during my tenure so it's provided a lot of variety and interesting experiences. You get to meet and work with a lot of people in 31 years. So while the transition to WFH was really, really weird for awhile I've adapted and I'm officially on a hybrid work plan (but I've been given a lot of freedom to WFH due to some of the odd hours I have to work).
But the prior 28+ years made it easier to transition to WFH because I've been working with many of my colleagues for a long, long time. It must be tough to transition to a new employer without being able to form those in person bonds, so I have some sympathy for people who are taking on new jobs with a lack of in person support.
Having said all that, you do lose something when you can't see your colleagues in person, so it's a definite pleasure when you see someone in person that you haven't laid eyes on in almost 3 years.
Great post.
It's true, the transition to remote work with familiar colleagues would be a totally different experience than trying to form bonds with people you will likely never meet. Thanks for this perspective, Mark!