Published on 12, July, 2020
So it turns out the stress and anxiety induced by commuting into London for work is a major contributing factor to my Crohn's disease which I've had for over 10 years.
Since the pandemic started I've been working from home and my Crohn's has healed, drug free, for the most part. It's been quite incredible.
Now, as a freelancer, the 2 companies I work with predominantly, have decided that everyone must work on site again. They don't care if you are disabled or not, everyone must return to the office.
I've been a loyal and very hardworking freelancer for them for about 9/10 years, but this doesn't seem to impact on the situation.
For the first time in years I had a panic attack today and am continuing to feel hyper anxious at the idea of commuting back into London again. A round trip of 4+ hours.
I don't understand why, given the climate crisis we are in, plus the pivot to home working that was so successful, that companies are requiring staff to commute 100s of miles a week again?
Is it just me or is this irresponsible and ignorant? Especially to those with disabilities??
JT said:I don't understand why, given the climate crisis we are in, plus the pivot to home working that was so successful, that companies are requiring staff to commute 100s of miles a week again?
The reason is twofold:
1 - Bosses like to see their minions so they can check they are working - also see if they are struggling so they can help or see if they spend the day messing around in which case they can get that sorted out.
and more importantly
2 - NTs work better collectively. In spite of the moans about meetings being a waste of time etc there is a strong benefit to NTs in collaborative working, socialising and being in a shared working environment.
Much of this goes to the pack / tribe mentaility of humans but the improvements to management are tangible which is why they want to do it.
We are the outcasts by and large - the unsociable ones so we don't like it and actually function better when on our own.
The kicker is that this is seen as a perk to the others - why is JT allowed to work from home when we are not? It's not fair etc statements from the team who don't understand the adaptations that you would need to carry on working from home.
I hope that explains the mechanics behind the decision.
For what its worth I too would have liked to carry on working from home and that is why I retired at age 54 rather than go back into that rat race.
If only I could afford to retire! I'm pleased you were able to. Was it a lottery win or years of if saving that helped that?
I effectively retired, not entirely voluntarily, age 38 rather than go back into the rat race and I was only doing a 3 day week in my last job.