Happy holidays HR

Today is the last office day of the year for me and I can’t wait until log-off time. It will be nice to have a break from the commute, the wasted two hours of my day.

I was thinking this through recently: how come I didn’t mind the commute before we started being allowed to work remotely? How did I ever cope? I do not really have an answer to that. Maybe the phrase “new normal” has something to do with it. Working at home is now the norm, and the commute and twice-per-week presenteeism exercise seems like punishment.

I did not do much collaborating over the past year, let me be totally honest. Me going into the office was exactly presenteeism at it’s very finest. My productivity did not magically increase because I showed my face twice a week to collaborate a tiny bit with the most excellent coffee machine in the kitchen. I did nothing more in the office when compared to my working remotely.

This week, HR informed the plebs that the mandatory two-days-in-the-office rule will be relaxed for the holiday season, from 22nd December to the end of the year. Yay, and thanks, I think. This is very nice of you, especially given that most of the company is off anyway — yours truly included — joining that last-minute rush to take holidays before they elapse and expire. See, at most companies in the UK, we can only carry over five holidays from the year and those five days must be used in Q1 or else they go in the bin.

I suppose it is the season of giving. At least my colleagues who 1) hate the office, and 2) hate the commute as much as I do, and 3) have squandered all their 2025 holiday entitlement will get to have that nice little two-week treat away from the cubicles and the drive in or the smelly, body odour-infused train journey to and from the office. Twice a week.

Thanks HR. Happy holidays, I think.