4 reasons people are afraid to return to the office

It’s a stressful time. That long-awaited moment people imagined over a year ago when a vaccine was readily available and life would return to normal has arrived with the baggage of a year of trauma. Returning to the office is a big concern for a group of people who have gotten used to remote working and who wish things to stay the same.

A recent study found that two-thirds of American workers are afraid to return to their personal work environments. There are many reasons for this: people are willing to cut their wages in order not to return to the office, or even ready to step back from their jobs. While many are nervous and fearful of health concerns, a large percentage of people have worked from home for a year and are not ready to return.

Here are 5 reasons people fear going back to the office:

Office work does not allow free time

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“I’m not looking forward to going back to the office,” said Tracie Smith, an analyst who spoke with the New York Times. “I’m afraid they’ll take everything away on this occasion and we’ll be 8 or 5 in the office again,” she said. “But the pandemic has shown that there are alternatives that work well.”

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Smith said it took a pandemic before she felt rested and wisely used her time on a break from work to do laundry or grocery shopping without feeling like wasting her precious free time. “I feel like a whole person. I live a real life every day instead of trying to narrow it down to a day and a half on the weekend. “

The commuting process is fraught with fear

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Entering buildings no longer feels like it used to. Aside from wearing face masks, hurdles like riding the subway or standing in a crowded elevator can make you scared of an already stressful time if you follow social distancing guidelines and stickers that show you how to act properly and politely behavior. It’s a time-consuming process that not everyone looks forward to.

People who are disabled or have an underlying disease are right to be afraid

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The pandemic was tough for everyone, but it was especially tough for people with a disability or an underlying disease. Working from home gave these people much more convenience and options, something that not many people need or think about. It also gave them security without having to consider the social life of the employees and whether or not they cover their nose with their face masks.

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Rebecca, a problem management specialist with a disability, spoke to The Huffington Post about why she’d rather work from home. “I didn’t lose two hours a day commuting plus two to three hours a day I spent recovering from the workday,” she said. “I had energy, I developed a baking habit.”

Remote work worked well for a year. Why mess with it?

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Whether people are introverted or just enjoy doing their laundry on their lunch break, remote working has been a success for a large percentage of them.

“All the time, effort, and money to go back to the pre-pandemic routine now seems to be in vain,” said Jonas, aa Ph.D. Student speaking to HuffPo. “All the freedom we enjoy in our home offices – wearing any pair of pants you like, structuring the day to suit you better than the standard 9-5, taking a short half-hour nap when a work problem is bothering you – that is all going away. “