Pull out your trackies, working from home may be returning

Remember that House Party App? You might want to download it again.

Remember that House Party App? You might want to download it again.

We regret to advise the most loathed (loved) acronym of the past three years is back - WFH. 

Zoom drinks and email chains that stretch kilometres long may soon return as a growing list of medical experts are now recommending people to work from home as a new Covid variant envelopes the nation.

The country’s top medical officials - Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly and the Federal Health Minister Mark Butler - on Tuesday "strongly recommended" the community start to wear masks indoors again and work from home where possible...again.

Professor Kelly called on employers to allow work from home if "feasible".

“[Employers] should consider the feasibility of some employees working from home, wearing masks in the workplace and support employees to take leave when sick,” Kelly said.

It comes as top medical experts have said the new BA.5 variant is more infectious and better at evading immunity.

Are we really equipped to do this all over again?

After long periods of working remotely, many have experienced the highs and lows of it but what does an expert think from a psychological point of view?

“It can be hard to put boundaries in as work or home life start to mingle,” psychiatrist and author Dr Tanveer Ahmed told The Oz.  “It’s harder to switch off work.”

“Productivity doesn’t seem to go down in most studies however there are various negatives. Employers will be pissed off as we’re only starting to rebuild company togetherness. It’s harder to build strong ties to company and hard to feel cohesive,” Dr Ahmed said.

He noted that extroverts and introverts tend to have drastic differences in experiences with remote work: “There are some that may need a tap on the shoulder to work better and there are others that perform better by bouncing off people.”

“It has shifted the balance between extroverts and introverts,

“For people who thrive on social connectedness their work performance may have been hindered.”