Commentary: I never experienced pre-Covid normal office life. Am I ready for its return?
TODAY journalist Loraine Lee, seen here in office on May 27, 2022, had never worked physically in one until April 2022 due to the pandemic.
We’ve done everything online from home, be it our studies, lectures or internships. For us, working from home is the norm in our preparation for adulthood.
However, with offices able to function at full capacity with masks-off in certain settings and group size limits removed since April 26, some say we’re returning to normal office life. But for those that have never experienced the pre-Covid normal, our “normal” is slowly about to disappear.
While I learnt how to walk the ground through the advice of my colleagues and editors over messages and phone calls while interning at TODAY in 2020, I never had the chance to build up basic interpersonal skills — such as how to start a conversation with my colleagues — or learn what the work culture is like.
The author said that as a journalist, approaching strangers to ask for their comments has become second nature with practice over time. But speaking to her colleagues is another ball game altogether.
With it being a month plus since all workers have been allowed to return to the workplace with masks off, I’ve learnt how to pick up on small social cues during the seven times I’ve set foot onto the Mediacorp campus.
