1 day Ago
Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here . ••• I feel sorry for Paul John Scott ( “Working from home is so overrated,” Strib Voices, March 31).
His experience working from home sounds very different from what mine was. He writes that every day is a struggle to avoid distraction and to actually settle down to work. He misses the social interaction of the workplace lunchroom, but says nothing about being more productive for being in the office.
He misses commuting in a car, so he goes out and wastes gas randomly driving around? After having worked for two state agencies for over 30 years, going into the office every day, March 2020 saw me working from home for two more years to avoid getting sick or sickening others. Because my coworkers and I still had an important job to do — regulating the 1,000-plus industries in the Twin Cities that discharge wastewater to the sewers. We issued and reissued permits, conducted inspections and sampling of wastewater, assisted industries with problems, and ensured compliance (either the easy way or the hard way).
Our various workgroups continued to meet via Microsoft Teams, and we still held our monthly all staff meeting for the 30-plus of us. As the compliance officer, I was involved in every action we took to get a company to return to compliance with our rules. Every day I had at least three or four meetings with colleagues scheduled, and usually had six to eight more unplanned consultations.
Being home meant I could accommodate other people’s different schedules, and be available anywhere from 5 a.m. to 5 p.
m. (you have to draw the line somewhere). Clever colleagues developed great checklists for phone and video inspections that we were required to complete, even when the industries justifiably wouldn’t let us visit their facility.
It was a little complicated, but we got our job done. I already had a luxurious, 31-inch-wide, $50 desk from Walmart for my laptop and a monitor and sundries. My employer provided Bluetooth headphones for everyone so my wife didn’t have to listen to my staff meetings, and I could get up for some iced tea from the fridge without missing a word.
This old fogie had no trouble with the digital technology. Our manager held a weekly open office (we called it “Bob’s happy hour”). Attendance was voluntary, but most of us came every week.
We could ask for advice about a work issue, complain about the Vikings, show off our new puppy ...
whatever. If anything, I felt like our social connections were stronger than ever. Oh, yeah — I went from driving 160 miles per week to about 20, and from filling my gas tank every two weeks to filling it once in three or four months.
So that was nice. Also, I got to have lunch with my beloved wife every day. Those last two years may have been the happiest and most productive years I spent in my career.
Last note. Irony of ironies — I never got COVID until I went back to the office for a Christmas party many months after I retired. Peter Sandberg, of Minneapolis, is a former state employee.
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