01 Jan 2022

Have you noticed that people tend to make life-changing decisions whenever they take a long break from work ... maybe it's due to the fact that we get so busy being busy, both in our work and home life - traditionally when we're off work for any length of time (usually during the major holidays), this is the only time that we get to stop and re-assess what we want out of life

So just imagine the sorts of decisions people have made during lock-down, whilst homeworking or on furlough. From a work perspective, many of us have taken this opportunity to re-assess our work lives, whether that be about the job we do, where we work from or how we work

We need to recognise that the trigger to these sorts of decisions is often based on the negatives we’ve experienced in our work, and these decisions tend to be about what we want from our job moving forward, for example:

• I need a bigger challenge - I'm bored doing this every day
• I’ve not missed the commute – I need to work closer to home / from home more
• I’m going to miss not spending so much time with the family – I need to reduce my hours / work more flexibly
• I hate home working – I can’t wait to get back to work

... and so on. I call this TOPCAT syndrome – because time off promotes career altering thoughts

If you are an employer, you need to be aware of this phenomenon and put measures in place to remedy such decisions. Be aware that some of your employees may want to formalise their homeworking arrangements moving forward … and some of them may not return from furlough at all; you may need to have various conversations with your team about what you both expect from work as more and more people return after lockdown

Alternatively, be proactive - encourage your employees to talk to you objectively about their job / work through structured job chats prior to their return after lockdown and throughout the rest of the year; this way you and your team can avoid the post-lockdown job blues

For more information on dealing with TOPCAT syndrome, please get in touch

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