Post-Covid work effects

ninjatalli · 25th October 2021, 13:50

Since the last 18 months, and especially the last 3-4 odd months, there's a weird feeling of not getting the urge to work. Both the wife and I have been battling this new 'condition'. The prior 12-15 months of the pandemic had other problems arising due to the situation itself with corresponding impact on work schedules and commitments but this is something different, especially since this has emerged well after the second wave had subsided.

We have taken quite a few vacations (+ home trips) to consider if it is somewhat of a burn-out situation and maybe these trips would help the case. But it isn't the same. For example, a 3 day Goa trip in early Q1 2021 made a wonderful refreshing change to the heavy work schedules back then. A similar trip a week ago didn't have any impact, and this is coming on back of other trips that have been done in the last ~3 months. Now both of us are looking out for job shifts, but I don't feel the actual problem will be resolved. Feel we are just shifting the goalpost for now.

We were pondering what could be the reason; and we met up with close friends last weekend and to our surprise, several others voiced similar problems at their end. And this is across multiple meetups with all in varying professions. One friend actually quit his well paying job (which he had indicated he was quite happy) two month ago and is now taking a break with no end date. This is after his multiple workacation/staycation attempts over the last 12 months. Another friend has gone to Mangalore for a week long workacation near Mangalore.

Note: None of the friends voiced monetary or heavy work loads (or any of the usual problems). But they all felt 'weary' of work and wanted to get out for a while.

V.Narayan · 25th October 2021, 14:37

Looks like you have got used to continuing with the same standard of living with much less toil!!!! - hence the lethargy of why get back to the grind of a 10-hour workday. :-)

Chetan_Rao · 25th October 2021, 14:56

The last year and a half has put a huge question mark against plenty of things we considered must-have and must-do in 'normal' times, professionally and personally.

ninjatalli · 25th October 2021, 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Looks like you have got used to continuing with the same standard of living with much less toil!!!! - hence the lethargy of why get back to the grind of a 10-hour workday. :-)

Hahaha - actually our work hours have gone up (compared to pre-covid days). There were days when I'd sleep and wake up with the laptop next to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

The last year and a half has put a huge question mark against plenty of things we considered must-have and must-do in 'normal' times, professionally and personally.

Indeed - but I wonder what's the solution. Taking more holidays isn't working for us for sure. Hence the Q if others are seeing this happen with themselves/others.

One pending/untested option on the table - going back to office. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Samurai · 25th October 2021, 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Note: None of the friends voiced monetary or heavy work loads (or any of the usual problems). But they all felt 'weary' of work and wanted to get out for a while.

This sounds more like the "Great Resignation" happening in the west.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post5179163

Don't have any answers, and I am quite puzzled too.

Chetan_Rao · 25th October 2021, 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

...Taking more holidays isn't working for us for sure. Hence the Q if others are seeing this happen with themselves/others.

At risk of sounding philosophical, one realization that's been reinforced during the pandemic is we're afraid - don't know if that's the right word for it - of being alone with our 'self'. Removal of distractions, as the lockdowns did, brings questions the mind ponders into sharp focus. Questions we drown out with the sights, sounds and distractions of 'normal' life.

At the height of total lockdown, I remember standing in silence looking out from my 11th floor balcony one morning and just, thinking. The clarity of thought was so acute, one could feel the synapses firing and thoughts forming. There was nowhere else to go, nowhere to be, so no opportunity to push thoughts aside for later. One takes vacations away from the hubbub, here I was standing right where I stood every morning even in 'normal' times, and I could've been in another universe.

It wasn't easy, but I loved that span of quiet mornings.

Quote:

...One pending/untested option on the table - going back to office. I'm actually looking forward to it.

I suspect a lot of us will find the distractions that worked pre-pandemic might no longer be enough. You can't re-pack a Pandora's box.

condor · 25th October 2021, 18:17

Ninja, I dont think more vacations can help.

However, it is also possible that as we slowly return to office, things can get more organized and work returns to previous patterns.

I am sure that HR folks will know that return to office will present it's own challenges on employees, and managers would be sensitized to this.

One possibility for folks is if they want to change jobs after work at office resumes, so that they are consciously trying to adapt to a new organization - and this can camouflage the reluctance you have described.

Return to work at office is as much an unknown as was moving to WFH. Let's hope for the best, and a smooth transition.

ashis89 · 25th October 2021, 18:37

I agree and have experienced (still do so) this lack of motivation situation. I sure can't explain how and why but hanging in here ain't fun. Yes, even vacation feels like an excercise even if I have enjoyed them.

Even I look forward to going to office, hoping that brings back some euphoria and the sight of a bunch of familiar faces. Let me know if there are other ideas that I should try.

Would agree with Chetan's balcony moment which happened to me too. Until the lockdown, I never realised so clearly what I had/owned, what I needed, what I wanted, what I was doing so far, what I needed to do, who's there and who's not and of course, how unpredictable life is. Sorry for being philosophical again.

Another aspect I realised is how much time I actually needed to do something when no one was around to interrupt/distract. Alas, the "managers" expect oneself to be available for 'y' hours even if one needs 'x' hours to complete the job. Earlier, this y-x delta was easily lost in commuting, lunch breaks, meetings, etc. If I never went to office regularly, others did and remained busy not to look for me.

And back then, no one was taken for granted for being at home full time and hence, be expected to be available whenever needed. Work is indirectly entering our personal lives too as we stay at home at all times. I avoid this religiously but my wife is cranky at times due to work issues.

Chetan_Rao · 25th October 2021, 21:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai

This sounds more like the "Great Resignation" happening in the west...

Don't remember where I heard it, but it made sense.

'A lot of people realized they were working just to be able to afford to continue working, and decided it wasn't worth it anymore'.

ninjatalli · 25th October 2021, 21:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai

This sounds more like the "Great Resignation" happening in the west.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post5179163

Don't have any answers, and I am quite puzzled too.

That has two clear segments experiencing the resignation phenomenon

1. Blue collar worker resignations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNwfukpXNpU

2. Tech and white collar worker resignations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4zQvdRDnKc

The former had to happen eventually. What @Chetan mentioned clearly identifies with this segment workers.

Samurai · 25th October 2021, 22:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

The former had to happen eventually. What @Chetan mentioned clearly identifies with this segment workers.

Even the second video doesn't match what you guys are talking about.

Is it about not having clear goals?
Is it about goals having no meaning?

During the Vietnam war, the US soldiers experienced something like that.

1) They didn't know what they were doing in a war where both sides hated them.
2) The US soldiers often had to capture the same hills multiple times. These hills had nothing on them. Once they vacate, VC used to re-occupy and US soldiers were asked to capture again... It lost all meaning.

tsk1979 · 25th October 2021, 22:41

Working One month gives your 6 months of unemployment.

Cost of living is so bonkers, that lowered pay with unemployment will save you money if you no longer have to find daycare for kids or rent an expensive apartment.

This is in part responsible for the blue collar great resignation. People were working at 1$ /hour effective wage when you count expenses on gas and daycare etc.,

On the tech worker stuff, well its burnout. Even when work is same. Part of it is due to people spreading their working hours to cover their entire day. Your office is now 24x7

PArt of it due to the fact that work was always about work + social interactions. With the latter gone the normal people are feeling it and its breaking their minds.

Chetan_Rao · 25th October 2021, 23:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai

...
Is it about goals having no meaning?

Yes. Most people have goals they inherited or acquired externally (family, peers, society), and if push came to shove, don't mean much to them.

Played a round of 5 Whys at a friendly get together. Got real sombre real quick when applied to career and life choices. It's jarring to realize the superficial nature of it all.

paragsachania · 26th October 2021, 09:23

To me it has been the opposite. This is mainly because I have been working from home even during the pre-covid times. However, my wife who initially complained about not being able to manage work and home while working from home is now apprehensive about getting back to work because she thinks that the entire day is well managed now with work from home and how efficient things are at her end. She thinks driving to work (which is merely 25/30 mins one way for her) and back will result in waste of time and much planning of her day, something that she had been doing since past 14 years anyway!

In terms of our mental well-being & family bonding, I must say that there has been a lot of positivity than negative. I stay with my parents and pandemic has ensured that we have mostly been having every meal of the day together along with my daughter. This has been one of the most important change. Earlier this was limited to perhaps dinner alone. Weekends are when we all spend time over a movie together too. Going out for lunch or dinners has seen significant drop.

In terms of work, for me it has increased multifold but to be very honest, I am just loving it rather than complain about it because I like what I am doing. With no remote relation to Covid or work-from-home culture, I have also ended up working on at least 4-5 weekends this year without any complaints and no, that is not something I would want to embrace and inculcate as a normal.

I had to constantly train my mind that this pandemic is here to stay and lockdowns can keep coming every 6-8 months and going out frequently will drastically reduce. The only way to escape from getting into a dejection mode or depressive state is by starting to accept the fact that this is the new normal and honestly, it has worked for both of us couple.

In terms of road trips, they reduced a lot due to covid. However, we still managed couple of them this year (Hampi in Feb and Goa this month) and the next one's already up this weekend as we drive to Gujarat for the Diwali week. This one was pending since my last drive was only in Dec 2019, something which otherwise is an annual affair for me at least. I wouldn't even count small little trips lasting 500-600 km that happened without any plans too.

Overall, I believe nothing has changed for us but even if they have, it is mainly the good. My kid's offline classes started this week but we want to wait and watch and send her to school only after 2 weeks. She has bene craving to meet her friends and physically present in school and we totally understand her feelings.

//M · 26th October 2021, 11:23

I have worked from office (~ 40 kms from home one-way) each day throughout the lockdown and covid times as my work comes under the essential services and although work can be managed remotely to some extent, we do not have the concept of Work from Home at the workplace. So I have never seen what WFH feels like. However, seeing family members and friends working from home since past so many months, my urge to travel to work has gone down to a great degree.

I even convinced myself that if I buy a new car, I might feel the urge to go to office. Thankfully, the better half stopped me from making such knee-jerk reactions.

I did go on a few short vacations around. The vacations were exciting but work travel was again a mundane affair.

It seems I am suffering from this "passive condition" now !

25th October 2021, 13:50	#1
ninjatalli Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Bangalore Posts: 4,026 Thanked: 17,783 Times View My Garage	Post-Covid work effects Since the last 18 months, and especially the last 3-4 odd months, there's a weird feeling of not getting the urge to work. Both the wife and I have been battling this new 'condition'. The prior 12-15 months of the pandemic had other problems arising due to the situation itself with corresponding impact on work schedules and commitments but this is something different, especially since this has emerged well after the second wave had subsided. We have taken quite a few vacations (+ home trips) to consider if it is somewhat of a burn-out situation and maybe these trips would help the case. But it isn't the same. For example, a 3 day Goa trip in early Q1 2021 made a wonderful refreshing change to the heavy work schedules back then. A similar trip a week ago didn't have any impact, and this is coming on back of other trips that have been done in the last ~3 months. Now both of us are looking out for job shifts, but I don't feel the actual problem will be resolved. Feel we are just shifting the goalpost for now. We were pondering what could be the reason; and we met up with close friends last weekend and to our surprise, several others voiced similar problems at their end. And this is across multiple meetups with all in varying professions. One friend actually quit his well paying job (which he had indicated he was quite happy) two month ago and is now taking a break with no end date. This is after his multiple workacation/staycation attempts over the last 12 months. Another friend has gone to Mangalore for a week long workacation near Mangalore. Note: None of the friends voiced monetary or heavy work loads (or any of the usual problems). But they all felt 'weary' of work and wanted to get out for a while. Last edited by Samurai : 27th October 2021 at 09:25. Reason: removed the first line
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25th October 2021, 14:37	#2
V.Narayan Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Delhi-NCR Posts: 4,330 Thanked: 72,440 Times	Re: Post-Covid work effects Looks like you have got used to continuing with the same standard of living with much less toil!!!! - hence the lethargy of why get back to the grind of a 10-hour workday. :-)
	(11) Thanks

25th October 2021, 14:56	#3
Chetan_Rao Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,782 Thanked: 28,195 Times	Re: Post-Covid work effects The last year and a half has put a huge question mark against plenty of things we considered must-have and must-do in 'normal' times, professionally and personally.
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25th October 2021, 18:17	#7
condor Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Speed-brkr City Posts: 16,240 Thanked: 16,893 Times View My Garage	Re: Post-Covid work effects Ninja, I dont think more vacations can help. However, it is also possible that as we slowly return to office, things can get more organized and work returns to previous patterns. I am sure that HR folks will know that return to office will present it's own challenges on employees, and managers would be sensitized to this. One possibility for folks is if they want to change jobs after work at office resumes, so that they are consciously trying to adapt to a new organization - and this can camouflage the reluctance you have described. Return to work at office is as much an unknown as was moving to WFH. Let's hope for the best, and a smooth transition.
	(7) Thanks

25th October 2021, 18:37	#8
ashis89 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 3,659 Thanked: 12,206 Times View My Garage	Re: Post-Covid work effects I agree and have experienced (still do so) this lack of motivation situation. I sure can't explain how and why but hanging in here ain't fun. Yes, even vacation feels like an excercise even if I have enjoyed them. Even I look forward to going to office, hoping that brings back some euphoria and the sight of a bunch of familiar faces. Let me know if there are other ideas that I should try. Would agree with Chetan's balcony moment which happened to me too. Until the lockdown, I never realised so clearly what I had/owned, what I needed, what I wanted, what I was doing so far, what I needed to do, who's there and who's not and of course, how unpredictable life is. Sorry for being philosophical again. Another aspect I realised is how much time I actually needed to do something when no one was around to interrupt/distract. Alas, the "managers" expect oneself to be available for 'y' hours even if one needs 'x' hours to complete the job. Earlier, this y-x delta was easily lost in commuting, lunch breaks, meetings, etc. If I never went to office regularly, others did and remained busy not to look for me. And back then, no one was taken for granted for being at home full time and hence, be expected to be available whenever needed. Work is indirectly entering our personal lives too as we stay at home at all times. I avoid this religiously but my wife is cranky at times due to work issues.
	(8) Thanks

25th October 2021, 22:41	#12
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,688 Thanked: 23,489 Times View My Garage	Re: Post-Covid work effects Working One month gives your 6 months of unemployment. Cost of living is so bonkers, that lowered pay with unemployment will save you money if you no longer have to find daycare for kids or rent an expensive apartment. This is in part responsible for the blue collar great resignation. People were working at 1$ /hour effective wage when you count expenses on gas and daycare etc., On the tech worker stuff, well its burnout. Even when work is same. Part of it is due to people spreading their working hours to cover their entire day. Your office is now 24x7 PArt of it due to the fact that work was always about work + social interactions. With the latter gone the normal people are feeling it and its breaking their minds.
	(15) Thanks

26th October 2021, 09:23	#14
paragsachania Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Belur/Bangalore Posts: 7,147 Thanked: 27,207 Times	Re: Post-Covid work effects To me it has been the opposite. This is mainly because I have been working from home even during the pre-covid times. However, my wife who initially complained about not being able to manage work and home while working from home is now apprehensive about getting back to work because she thinks that the entire day is well managed now with work from home and how efficient things are at her end. She thinks driving to work (which is merely 25/30 mins one way for her) and back will result in waste of time and much planning of her day, something that she had been doing since past 14 years anyway! In terms of our mental well-being & family bonding, I must say that there has been a lot of positivity than negative. I stay with my parents and pandemic has ensured that we have mostly been having every meal of the day together along with my daughter. This has been one of the most important change. Earlier this was limited to perhaps dinner alone. Weekends are when we all spend time over a movie together too. Going out for lunch or dinners has seen significant drop. In terms of work, for me it has increased multifold but to be very honest, I am just loving it rather than complain about it because I like what I am doing. With no remote relation to Covid or work-from-home culture, I have also ended up working on at least 4-5 weekends this year without any complaints and no, that is not something I would want to embrace and inculcate as a normal. I had to constantly train my mind that this pandemic is here to stay and lockdowns can keep coming every 6-8 months and going out frequently will drastically reduce. The only way to escape from getting into a dejection mode or depressive state is by starting to accept the fact that this is the new normal and honestly, it has worked for both of us couple. In terms of road trips, they reduced a lot due to covid. However, we still managed couple of them this year (Hampi in Feb and Goa this month) and the next one's already up this weekend as we drive to Gujarat for the Diwali week. This one was pending since my last drive was only in Dec 2019, something which otherwise is an annual affair for me at least. I wouldn't even count small little trips lasting 500-600 km that happened without any plans too. Overall, I believe nothing has changed for us but even if they have, it is mainly the good. My kid's offline classes started this week but we want to wait and watch and send her to school only after 2 weeks. She has bene craving to meet her friends and physically present in school and we totally understand her feelings. Last edited by paragsachania : 26th October 2021 at 09:25.
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26th October 2021, 11:23	#15
//M Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New Delhi Posts: 6,567 Thanked: 25,170 Times	Re: Post-Covid work effects I have worked from office (~ 40 kms from home one-way) each day throughout the lockdown and covid times as my work comes under the essential services and although work can be managed remotely to some extent, we do not have the concept of Work from Home at the workplace. So I have never seen what WFH feels like. However, seeing family members and friends working from home since past so many months, my urge to travel to work has gone down to a great degree. I even convinced myself that if I buy a new car, I might feel the urge to go to office. Thankfully, the better half stopped me from making such knee-jerk reactions. I did go on a few short vacations around. The vacations were exciting but work travel was again a mundane affair. It seems I am suffering from this "passive condition" now !
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