Managing My Arrival to the Office
Katrina Spencer in her office in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Katrina Spencer is the Librarian for African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. She usually has a good book recommendation handy, is on the editorial board for the Journal for Library Outreach and Engagement, writes for Resources for Gender and Women’s Studies, and manages the social media accounts for the Librarians of Color forum of the Virginia Library Association. Her Twitter handle is @Katleespe. Find out more at www.katleespe.com.
I’d be lying if I said the return to the office was easy. It has been incredibly stressful. I don’t remember the last time I felt this level of stress. Not when the COVID-19 pandemic started dominating the news in early 2020. Not on my 600-mile drive from Vermont to Virginia in summer 2020, relocating to start a new job. Not when I crashed my car into a parked Yukon Denali, sliding, unstoppable, at 3 miles per hour, over falling snow in early 2021. [Everyone was fine. Thank you for your concern. The car has been repaired.] I haven’t been this stressed in over a year-- and there’s been a lot to stress about. You recall Derek Chauvin mercilessly killing George Floyd, the chaotic January 6th insurrection, the “messy,” for lack of a better term, departure of our military from Afghanistan, and Hurricane Ida, right? You’d think working from the office would be an intuitive undertaking as commuting to work has long been a part of the North American work narrative: it is neither a foreign nor novel concept. Yet, suddenly, like many of our garments, after 16 months of a very sedentary [yet engaged] work from home lifestyle, working from the office feels rather ill-fitting.
A meme that states the following:
Text:
Friend: How's life?
Me: Everything's on track thanks.
Image:
A misshapen, precarious, and unusable train track in an overgrown wood.
I perhaps should say that in one respect I’m still a “new” employee. Yes, I’ve been working in Charlottesville for a year, but this is the first time I'm doing so physically at my place of employment. When I started here, work from home was largely the norm for my team as we were but four months into the pandemic. So it is now that I am trying to determine what transport to use, how much I’m willing to pay near university grounds to park, what foods I need to carry with me, all while trying to look professional in my attire, feel at peace in my mind, and be intentional about my undertakings. At the time of this writing, it’s been two weeks, and it hasn’t been going all that well. And I don’t even have any children who need to be dropped at school or any coffee Keurig machine I have to navigate and negotiate in the morning with a spouse. It’s just me, and despite having an uncannily supportive supervisor (Thank you, Chris!), I feel disoriented. In spite of all this, I make centimeters (millimeters?) of progress daily. Let me tell you about some of the strategies and outlooks that, little by little, are helping. As with most things, I find that I am holding myself to a standard that is uncommon, unnecessarily demanding, and unique to me. Here are some tips that will likely make the processes easier for anyone soon approaching a similar journey.
Explore routes, transport, and parking options early.
Had I started to earnestly research and inquire about the multiple routes to my office earlier, I’d’ve probably felt more empowered and informed. The “short” 2.5 miles from my home to my office deceived me into believing the process would be simple. I was wrong. Leaning on my more veteran colleagues who hold vast local knowledge for advice has been invaluable.
Understand that time constraints are the catalysts of stress.
Part of what has been causing me anxiety is that despite being a salaried employee (not hourly), I had been telling myself I needed to be out the door of my home by X hour and in my office by Y o’clock. Again, I haven’t lived with that type of pressure in over a year. When I move with my body’s natural rhythms, I am more successful and more at peace. My body always chooses forward momentum, but not at an arbitrary, expedited pace. Wherever I can, I am trying to re-work my thinking and be flexible about the artificial deadlines and checkpoints I have a tendency to create for myself. I have to ask myself if these deadlines and checkpoints are moving me closer to my goals or just making me feel harried and worn.
Acknowledge that dramatic shifts are not organic.
My employer was wise to suggest that we workers aim for three days a week working from the office following about a year and half of none for many of us. Going from zero to five is too drastic of a transition. Moderation and modulation are key.
Expect the unexpected.
As life is wont to do, unexpected and unanticipated barriers are presenting themselves on the odyssey that is my daily route to and from work. Literal flash floods and road detours due to construction projects make the shortest distance to the office a labyrinthine affair. I find that it helps if I try to make a preemptive decision that I will take these obstacles, which would normally manifest as stressors, in stride. I’m not winning at 100% but I am becoming more observant of my moods and what impacts them. And that’s the first step towards problem-solving: acknowledging that there is a shift in my energy.
Interrogate your routines.
Can I shower at night instead of in the morning? Am I actually going to read these three books I’m carrying with me daily? Can I keep these oats at the office and prepare them there? Taking the time to ask yourself what aspects of your routines are malleable and which are staunchly set is worthwhile. New patterns require new thinking.
Redefine the metrics of success.
If your work environment and routines change, it makes sense for your work goals and efforts to adjust in tandem as well. How did you define a successful day/week/month working from home? How might it need to look differently when you work from the office? For me, in my second week working from the office, I was able to introduce myself in person to a lecture hall class of 179 undergrads, more than I have reached virtually in a year’s time. At home, metrics for success included competent management of digital tools and virtual programming. From the office, I fully expect face time with colleagues and library users to be foregrounded.
Be mindful of your energy reserves.
The realm of working from the office is going to expose you to tolls and taxes on your energy that were not the same over the last year and a half. For me, for example, I didn’t have to tote belongings to the office outside during a hot and humid summer. Virtual meetings typically had built-in start and end times, so regulating my emotions and emotional labor was for defined periods of time. People were not able to drop by my office for greetings, requests, or needs, i.e. interruptions were limited and more manageable. And in-person lunches and coffees, of course, were at an all-time low. [To my colleagues, I like you fine. The point’s still valid though.] Moreover, if a webinar was not quite what I was hoping it would be, I could dip out without causing disruption. The game has changed. In anticipation of these changes, personally, my ambitious to-do lists must necessarily reduce in scope and length. For the overrepresentation of introverts in our field and in our midst, myself included...godspeed. Time, attention, and energy are limited resources and the return to the office will make this point known more poignantly than ever before.
Ask for what you need.
All of a sudden I’m realizing I need a whiteboard, pens, business cards, scissors, highlighters and all types of office supplies now that I’m in the office. Have a look at the inventory available in your office work space, try to make a list of the items you’d like to request, and find out who the right work contact is to make the order.
Invest in the right tools for home.
Now that my work-issued laptop, monitor, headset, keyboard, mouse, and webcam are all in the office, I need the same equipment at home. I have every intention of engaging in hybrid work, keeping to two work days at home, so I need my workspace at home to be technologically fit for all I anticipate doing, including meetings and consultations. If we include a desk and chair, the expenditures will cost me over $1,000. At the same time a) I’m not thrilled to spend the money and b) I consider the money well spent. Additional expenditures for the hybrid workforce include shoes I can walk in comfortably over long stretches of concrete on university grounds, office attire, and bags for toting my belongings. It ain’t cheap, but it contributes to my overall quality of life and quality of the work experience.
Brittany Paloma Fiedler’s office, before and after photos that show the efforts she made to personalize and decorate her office. (Photo by Brittany Paloma Fiedler, Teaching and Learning Librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.)
Customize your office workspace.
Making the space you work a place where you want to be can help conjure up positive feelings regarding your environment. I was warmly inspired by Brittany Paloma Fiedler’s before and after photos that show the efforts she made to personalize and decorate her office. Having seen what she did, I took a tablecloth, lamps, and a carpet to the office, and I continue exploring ideas of incorporating plants and tapestries. Moreover, I made sure to bring refillable water bottles to the office and stashed some snacks like granola bars there for any time I may need to delay a meal. Might I recommend some dried mango in a Mason jar? Creature comforts are worthwhile.
Communicate limitations.
Last, if I’m feeling miserable/emotionally unwell, I’m trying not to force myself into further positions of discomfort. Sounds basic enough, right? It does, but this is not a default or intuitive process for me. As a woman, as a Black woman, and as a child with a parent who is an immigrant, I have had an extraordinarily strong work ethic instilled in me, and sometimes I have to reach a point of significant incapacitation before I enforce healthy and self-protective boundaries on and for myself. I’m getting better at this. One hundred percent effort is not possible everyday of the week, and when it’s not, I’m starting to say so. I have been fortunate to find that my communicated boundaries are met with understanding, flexibility, patience, and grace. I wish the same for us all.
Please feel free to engage with this piece, share, debate, and disagree. It would be great if *someone* were to host a panel of speakers who are engaging in hybrid work so as to talk about the trials and successes of the transition. [Jessica Tingling, you available?] As panelists, I nominate Sandra Enimil, Brittany Paloma Fiedler, and Tarida Anantachai to discuss this article in a webinar. Who will host?