A year on from decamping from Soho in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and working from home, the Seven team is reflecting on its experiences this week. Next up, its Andrew…

WFH365: Andrew

It’s safe to say I was the most reluctant about working from home in the ‘before times’ – I’m pretty militant in when it comes to home-life balance and liked the structure and separation of coming in and working from the office. Plus, I loved being in Soho!

I had been in Stockholm the weekend before where attitudes to the pandemic were miles apart from the UK – the most I saw anything about it was a small poster at the airport on the baggage carousel. It wasn’t until I came back and walked along Oxford Street that I really got a sense of how different things were about to be. It was empty! It wasn’t until I walked into H&M and realised I didn’t actually want to touch anything that I felt that I no longer wanted to be in London.

The same day I was told not to come into the office until further notice – and so working from home became the norm. And I am a complete convert!

The big difference is the commute – no longer having to leave the house at 7am and contend with trains that were late about 90% of the time (not kidding), and not having to deal with the regular cancellations on the way home either. The stress and anxiety that the commute generated is one I underestimated, leaving it behind has done wonders for my physical and mental health.

I really miss being with my colleagues though – I’m rather fond of them y’know. The quick interactions, brainstorms, eavesdropping, joking, venting, asking silly questions, chatting about lunch and debating whether to buy doughnuts (the answer to that one is always ‘yes’). There have been times when lockdown has felt isolating – but I’ve always known there is a team I can pick up the phone to all year.

Will I go back into the office post Covid? Of course. Will I go back in everyday? Probably not. This year has been an eye opener to better ways of working.