{"id":70186,"date":"2023-10-10T00:12:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T04:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=70186"},"modified":"2023-10-10T00:12:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T04:12:26","slug":"taking-care-of-business-as-usual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/taking-care-of-business-as-usual\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking care of business (As usual)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From \u201cmandates\u201d to \u201cguidelines\u201d, universities across Australia are looking to enshrine a one-size-fits-all approach to working on campus.<\/p>\n

There is mounting evidence that you cannot wind back the clock to the pre-COVID status quo of 9-to-5 office days as standard. Research is flipping up things like\u00a070% of workers want to continue working from home<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0whether we should be remote or in office is the wrong question<\/a>. While some organisations appear to be \u2018suffering\u2019 with a workforce that prefers to work from home and is demanding flexibility (how very dare they), others are\u00a0embracing distributed teams as a core philosophy and prospering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The return to \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d (BAU), and what this means for our on-campus presence, has been energising for some. For others, however, it involves navigating a range of social and physical demands that were refreshingly absent during the pandemic-induced lockdowns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are both introverts, and we\u2019re viewing this return-to-office phase through our introverted lenses. We acknowledge that this is only one of many facets of life and identity that is affected by organisational demands to be physically present and accounted for.<\/p>\n

Instead of rushing back to the pre-COVID status quo, let\u2019s take a moment to consider the folks for whom the glorification of being (physically) present in the office has long made us uneasy, if not completely excluded. From our introverted point of view, it\u2019s not that the pandemic taxed our energy and made us crave solitude. Solitude, or having fewer people around in general, was something we desired long before the lockdown(s) granted us permission to work in a way that suited our innate preferences. Perversely, we had more freedom to optimise our work environment under lockdown than we did pre-COVID when office attendance was the norm and quieter times had to be planned and sometimes covertly engineered.<\/p>\n

Many organisations \u2013 not just universities \u2013 tout the return to business as usual as universally beneficial: a vehicle for collaboration, team-building, and fellow-feeling. This ignores the fact that these qualities can and do exist in online spaces. In fact, fruitful collaborations require a lot more planning and cultivation than physical proximity alone can possibly achieve.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something about the equation of physical presence with productivity that really grates on us. We know we do our best work when surrounded by the quiet company of our own thoughts, free from interruptions. Yet on-campus life is typically anything but \u2013 from the corridor chats, to ad hoc knocks on the door or, worse still, the constant buzz of the open office. These spaces and modes of interaction cater mostly to extroverts (we know, we know \u2013 it\u2019s #NotAllExtroverts) and leave us introverted types feeling taxed, overstimulated and, by the end of the day, exhausted.<\/p>\n

An in-person work-life requires us to be constantly \u201con\u201d in a way that working remotely does not. The awareness that at any moment we might be interrupted or forced to engage in small talk demands a level of alertness that saps us of precious energy. This is in contrast to the online space, where interactions are necessarily more intentional and the immediacy of our availability is, to a point, mediated by email and apps like Teams or Zoom.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that introverted researchers don\u2019t enjoy their forays onto campus and in-person meetings and events, or that there isn\u2019t a place for on-campus interactions. We\u2019re not recluses. What we do wish for is balance and choice \u2013 and an acknowledgment that any balance is highly individual and unlikely to be achieved through a mandated number of days on campus.<\/p>\n

This requires trust and understanding. Trust and understanding that while other colleagues may choose to go onto campus every day and be energised by the experience, we introverts visit less frequently in order to carve out the recovery time that such workplace performativity inevitably demands. An understanding from our peers and superiors that our work \u2013 and indeed our selves \u2013 are better for it also wouldn\u2019t go astray.<\/p>\n

So, what might such a \u201cbalanced\u201d approach look like? How can we embrace the flexibility that COVID ushered in in a way that caters to more people\u2019s preferences?\u00a0Here are some of our suggestions, which speak to us as introverts and would also cater to a range of colleagues who may have other conditions, commitments, and necessary restrictions that hinder their ability or desire to be present on campus.<\/p>\n