The commute down the Parkway into Sheffield, or on the return journey home, fills people with a particular kind of dread.
Or at least it used to, as in recent months it has been a breeze with traffic levels during peak periods pretty much like they’d be on a steady Saturday.
For those of us who made the trip twice a day before the Prime Minister’s latest guidance about working from home, you’d be forgiven for thinking we relished the open road and a quicker journey in both directions.
To a point I did, but there was a nagging worry at the back of my mind wondering where all these extra commuters were.
When I’ve raised this on social media I have, quite rightly, received responses that as part of the ‘new normal’ more people are working from home permanently or splitting their time between the office and their home desk.
I get that. And I also think it’s great that people have the flexibility of working from home. Some jobs require zero interaction with other people in terms of the processes of getting the job done, so why bother travelling to a communal working environment.
My worry is something that can only be proven over the long-term, though.
As a species we are social. We need human interaction to thrive, to communicate better, to learn, to develop our skills. This has been proved over thousands of years.
Over a few months we may enjoy the peace and quiet of home working. Technology makes it easy too, to have meetings and to keep in touch with colleagues.
What we shouldn’t do though is kid ourselves that this experiment is conclusive in that this is now how we do things – forever.
If we imagine all the experience we have gained by asking throwaway questions or simply listening to older, more worldly-wise workmates as they chat to clients on the phone then we quickly realise that this gradual build-up of knowledge will be lost.
Now, like I’ve said, I appreciate that not all jobs require collaborative working but surely, collectively, we’ll lose more than we gain by not getting a bit of the old normal back in our lives.
Even if it means a few queues on the Parkway…
unLTD support for Team Tobias
Even during lockdown, the power of business networking was on display.
You may have heard of eight-year old Tobias Weller, who lives with cerebral palsy and autism, and who raised £150,000 for Sheffield Children’s Hospital and his school, Paces.
At an online unLTD social in June our host Andy Hanselman introduced Tobias’ mum Ruth to Holly Jenkins, director at postural support specialists Jiraffe who are based in Hillsborough.
The pair got together and talked about Tobias’ amazing fundraising efforts during lockdown. The upshot of the conversation was that Jiraffe very kindly permanently donated a specially designed Rifton Tricycle for Tobias to use at home or at school.
Of course, Tobias being the magnificent young man he is also used the tricycle during his latest fundraising exploits – being part of a team doing a 480-mile virtual bike ride in aid of his school.
Jiraffe is a brilliant Sheffield firm and I know how proud they are to be part of Tobias’ – and his friends and family’s – fundraising. We are also delighted to have played our tiny part in this inspiring story.
