Returning to the Office Could Be Stressful

College professor Ravi Gajendran taught his classes remotely for months, until Florida International University asked him to return to the office in preparation for the eventual resumption of normal operations.  “Just changing your routine involves some amount of cognitive effort,” says Gajendran. “I was so comfortable just getting up from bed and going over to my computer, setting it on and having a bath whenever I wanted, not having to dress up, not having to iron my clothes, and not having to worry about commuting.”

As chair of the Department of Global Leadership and Management in the College of Business, Gajendran did a significant amount of administrative work remotely as well.  “Many of these things that were taken for granted for a year now have to change, and so people need to adjust the routines. And every time people are changing routines, it’s not so simple as turning on a switch,” he says. “It's an adjustment. Yes, I do feel more tired at the end of it all.”  Now that half of all U.S. adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, millions of Americans who’ve worked from home during the pandemic are starting to wonder if they’ll be called back to the office anytime soon.   It’s a switch up that comes at a time when many are already experiencing higher-than-normal feelings of stress and anxiety.