After two years of remote work, it can feel challenging to go back in-person to a world that more closely resembles life pre-Covid. This may bring feelings of relief, excitement, and hope for some people, but public re-engagement may cause anxiety and dread for many introverts. While introverts do enjoy being around people, they generate energy from time alone, as they find themselves drained by being around many people, meetings, and noisy gatherings.

Introverts may dread returning to the office

<ul><li>Practice self-care. Introverts need to spend time on activities they find regenerating.</li><li>Ask for what you need. Introverts need to let their managers and coworkers know what they need to function well in an office setting, whether a hybrid work schedule or a quieter workspace.</li><li>Reach out to others for support. Research found that 50.7% of employees are introverted, and 49.3% are extroverted. This means that half the people you work with understands what you are going through.</li><li>Gradually expose yourself to new situations, such as going in one or two days per week.</li></ul>

How to prepare

After two years of working remotely, going back to in-person work can be rough. Here’s how to ease the transition.


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How introverts can prepare emotionally for offices reopening

Businesses had to change their processes when the pandemic hit. Lots of scanning and signing that happened in the office infrastructure now had to be moved to a hundred different spaces: workers' home offices, sitting rooms, kitchens. Companies had to figure out new ways of doing old procedures. Some businesses, however, managed to use the pandemic to improve their collective skillset. With a move back to the office (even if partial), there is a real worry that some old habits will kick back in, and we'll lose the momentum on making life easier with technology: A McKinsey report showed that 92% of companies interviewed didn't think their business model could survive the digital revolution—and that was before the pandemic ever hit. In this sense, the pandemic just accelerated the inevitable.

The pandemic upskill 

Introducing a more technological solution to a business can be scary, especially if your business has been around for a long time. You know your thing works as is, but what if it goes downhill when you change it up? It takes you away from that comfortable spot you carved for your business and yourself.But if you do take that step, it can be extremely rewarding—in more than one way.

Adapt or die

<ul><li dir = "auto">Before the pandemic, many companies got away with a simple "this is where the kitchen is, now sit here beside this more senior person and learn" approach to onboarding a new employee.&nbsp;</li><li dir = "auto">When there are no specific resources for onboarding, employees have nowhere to look when they forget something: they need to ask a more tenured person, which can take away from that person's productivity.&nbsp;</li><li dir = "auto">By having to move that experience online, businesses were forced to formalize the knowledge of their senior employees into something the new hire could use on their own, creating a standardized approach to training. We may miss the bonding potential of sitting beside someone, but the trade-off here is valuable to companies: new employees level up more quickly and consistently. </li></ul>

How introverts can prepare emotionally for offices reopening

How to use remote work lessons in the office

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