It's been two years since the pandemic started and we asked you about how you've been coping in life or at work. Here's what you told us!
Whenever there's a need to de-stress or to clear my mind, my mini garden is there!
Face time is essential to building friendships, especially with
our colleagues who joined during the pandemic. I'm glad we
had the chance to attend in-person courses together recently -
otherwise, I do feel lonely at times when work gets tough.
I've also been trying to meet my best friends at work for virtual
lunches. It takes more effort and it's not the same as meeting
up physically, but happy that we can have lunch in person now!
The COVID pandemic has forced us to quickly adapt to
massive changes. I am glad to be working in HDB because of
the great support given from our supervisors. I can spend more
time with my family, and even start exercising again. While I
am getting used to my WFH routine, I sometimes still miss
being in the office and bonding with my colleagues.
In a way, there's not much difference between working from
home or office because we still need to complete our work on
time. So I hope that we will be moving towards a hybrid
working environment in the future!
Here's my conducive workspace at home.
I'm enjoying my current arrangement of alternating weeks to WFH!!
Back in Apr 2020, it was difficult when I had to work from
home without things that we enjoyed in the office - such as
air-con, proper table and chairs, accessories like monitors and
mouse pads. But as I adjusted my own mindset with time and
began to buy things that will help me work from home, I grew
to love this experience.
It's like a wish come true after 25 years in HDB! I feel refreshed
and energetic as there is no need to travel to and from office,
which means that I get more time to rest. I keep myself active
by running twice a week, and walking out to buy my meals
instead of taking public transport. I hope that in the future, we
will have the option to choose to work from home or the office,
and move towards a hybrid mode of working.
Since we can't attend physical meetings, I've been meeting my colleagues, family and friends through various platforms such as Skype, Zoom, and now Teams.
My supportive colleagues have been keeping me going.
Working from home has been a brand new experience for me. It really saves a lot of travelling time, as well as money spent eating out. I now get to enjoy dinner with my kids, and spend more time together with them at night.
We seriously miss having face-to-face human interactions in the office - for example something as simple as shouting for colleagues across our work stations. COVID-19 caught us by surprise and many of us are still working from home until today. Regardless, our ILS team continues to make the best out of it and keep in contact with one another by having weekly huddles via Skype to talk about anything under the sun. It's not about the physical place we are at, but the people whom we are with that matters! :)
Although working from home may have been a norm for many companies in the private sector, I'm glad that HDB has also taken the step to implement this working arrangement. We no longer have to squeeze with the rush hour crowd just to get to work. Time spent travelling to the office has been reduced, and virtual meetings can also transition seamlessly to the next with just a click. I think most of us will appreciate the benefits too.
When more and more people around us have been catching COVID, I can't help but feel that it may be me one day too. However, we should continue to do what we can to keep ourselves safe, and adapt to this new way of living!
Seems like we usually end up working longer hours while working from home… but we MUST remind each other to practise self-care and take care of our own health. Let's stay strong and stay safe!
