Lockdown and Office Routine

I Lead-in.

1)    Take two minutes to write down your associations with the word ‘habit’. Work in pairs and compare your lists. What are the similarities and differences in your list. Ask follow-up questions to find out more about other students’ associations with the word ‘habit’.

2)    What habits are considered to be good? What habits are bad?

3)    How do habits form? How long can it take for an action to become a habit?

II Vocabulary focus. Match the words to their definitions. Use three words in your sentences.

1.	entrenched	A.	cause of trouble or unhappiness
2.	commute	B.	to work more slowly and with less effort than usually
3.	anxiety	C.	a place that gives protection from danger and unhappiness
4.	to slack	D.	a person paid by another company to work on a particular project
5.	fatigue	E.	able to imagine how someone else feels
6.	wake-up call	F.	fixed and difficult to change
7.	to abandon	G.	nervousness or worry
8.	curse	H.	extreme tiredness
9.	refuge	I.	regular journey between work and home
10.	contractor	J.	something that makes people realize they need to change the situation
11.	empathic	K.	to leave forever

 

 

III Look through the article. Five sentences have been removed. Read the article and choose from the sentences (A-J) the one which fits each gap (1-7). There are sentences that you do not need to use.

 

Habits can be slow to form. But when they do, they can become entrenched. 1) ______. It is now ten months since many British employees have made a regular commute into the office. New routines have taken root and those will be much harder to break. Some of these new habits are bad, and they may stem as much from managers as from workers.

A survey of more than 13,000 knowledge workers (defined as those who mostly work at a computer) across eight countries  found that, on average in 2020, employees were working 455 hours a year more than their contracted requirement, or around two hours a day. That overtime had almost doubled relative to 2019. And much of the excess may not have been necessary; workers complained about the amount of time they spent in meetings and video-calls, or in responding to messages.

Perhaps this forced communication is the result of manager anxiety. Fearful that remote workers will be tempted to slack, they have closely monitored their teams. 2) ______. They may have trapped themselves in a cycle of useless activity. Many managers complain of “Zoom fatigue”, as they drag themselves from one video-call to another, often keeping other participants waiting as they try to wrap up the previous meeting. However, if they get rid of the needless meetings, productivity should improve. Perhaps managers will make it their new year’s resolution to ask the question, “Is this meeting really necessary?”

3) ______. Cut that time in half and think of how much more might be achieved. And that will be just as true when people return to the office as it is when they work from their kitchen table. The pandemic could provide a wake-up call on meeting futility.

The best habit developed during the pandemic has been flexibility. 4) ______. And with it, the curse of “presenteeism”—the idea that, unless you are constantly visible, you are not working. Self-isolating workers have shown they will happily get on with their work, even when not under the eye of their boss.

A survey of personnel chiefs by a research firm found that 65% planned to allow employees flexibility on their working arrangements, even after vaccines have been distributed. They predicted that around half the workforce would want to return to the office, for at least part of the time. Permitting this flexibility makes perfect sense. When lockdowns end, many workers may relish the chance to escape from their homes and see their colleagues in the flesh. 5) ______. And if they decide to work at home on Fridays, they will no longer feel as guilty as they might have done before the pandemic. The office can be a refuge, not a prison.

Employers will also take advantage of the new flexibility. 6) ______. Handling a combination of remote workers and freelancers will require managers to acquire new habits. The key will be to develop “empathic leadership” that understands the varied working conditions of team members. This might involve sending small gifts; at the start of the lockdown, some employers sent slippers to their team so they could feel comfy (mentally as well as physically) working from home. 7) ______.

 

 

A.   They will be even happier if they can arrive at 10am one day, and 8.30am the next, if that suits their domestic requirements.

B.   Being fully virtual has forced us to reconsider how we meet and collaborate.

C.   Firms will likely change the way they scale up their operations, relying far more on freelancers, contractors and vendors than on full-time employees.

D.   The concept is simple, especially for a global company that works across multiple time zones: work doesn’t happen at the same time for everyone.

E.    The ritual of the daily commute and the standard working day has been abandoned.

F.    As employers begin to think about what it will look like to return to the office, employees should consider what habits they’ll want to continue when the day comes to return to their desks.

G.   Research suggests that executives may spend 23 hours a week in meetings.

H.   When workers headed home during the first lockdown of March 2020, they probably thought the break would last for a month or so.

I.      Contacting workers should not be a matter of a rigid schedule but rather friendly, informal contacts.

J.     Or managers may have felt the need to look busy, prompting them to call more meetings than before.

IV Fill in the gaps with the prepositions from the list. Look through the text and check your answers.

up; up; from; on; under; of; of; on; for; from; in

1.    Many managers keep other participants waiting as they try to wrap ____ the previous meeting.

2.    If mangers get rid ____the needless meetings, productivity should improve.

3.    Firms will likely change the way they scale ____their operations.

4.    Many workers thought the lockdown would last ____a month.

5.    Self-isolating employees often work ____their kitchen table.

6.    Some new working habits stem ____managers.

7.    ____average in 2020, employees were working 455 hours a year more than their contracted requirement.

8.    Employers will also take advantage ____the new flexibility.

9.    When lockdowns end, many workers may want see their colleagues ____the flesh.

10.Self-isolating workers can get on with their work, even when not ____the eye of their boss.

11.The pandemic could be a wake-up call ____meeting futility. 

 

V Comprehension check. Mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false statements.

1 Habits form slowly and are difficult to change.

2. Office workers in Britain have developed new habits since lockdown began.

3. Knowledge workers are people who work in education.

4. Studies show that employees tend to work less than they used to.

5. There is a requirement for employees to work two hours more than their contracted working hours.

6. The overtime is necessary in times of lockdown; it allows to have more productive meetings and video-calls.

7. Some managers feared that employees working remotely would be less motivated, enthusiastic or hard-working than in the office.

8. Many managers chose to closely monitor their teams and have more meetings than before.

9. “Zoom fatigue” became a new problem that many managers faced.

10. Effective time management allowed managers to quickly switch between online meetings without having to keep participants waiting.

11. Managers may spend 23 hours a month in meetings.

12. The pandemic allowed employees to avoid daily commute and be more flexible.

13. Flexibility is a welcome change for most office workers.

14. There is a belief that unless employees are not visible, they are not working.

15. Most self-isolating workers need the attention of the boss to get on with their work.

16. Even after vaccines have been distributed, some executives plan to allow employees flexibility.

17. When lockdowns end, many workers may hate the idea of leaving their homes and meeting their colleagues.

18. After the pandemic employees would not feel guilty if they decide to work at home.

 19. In future firms will likely rely more on freelancers and contractors than on full-time employees.

20. “Enigmatic leadership” is an approach that understands the varied working conditions of team members.  

 

VI Vocabulary focus. Follow the link below. Study the words and word combinations using flashcards, check your understanding, practise their  spelling. Check your knowledge in the test. Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their definitions to make cards disappear)  and save the planet from asteroids by typing in correct words.

 

VII OVER TO YOU. Discuss the questions with other students:

a)    What new habits can people form during the lockdown? Which of the habits may remain even after the lockdown is over?

b)    What good habits can people develop working or studying from home? What habits can be bad?

c)  Have you developed any new habits during lockdown or remote studies? Which of those habits do you want to keep after the pandemic is over?