It’s a good thing I work from home. I have developed an unwavering attachment to my extra supportive running shoes and my cushy oh-so-comfortable slippers. The endless parade of trendy, office appropriable, break room conversation starters that pinched my feet and left my poor toes scrunched, crunched, and blistered is a relic of the past. I also ditched the professional upper management, somber-colored straight jackets. Their structured waistbands, buttons, and zippers gouged, poked, and scratched me relentlessly as I tried to focus on my work.

It doesn’t imply I have let everything slide into an unkempt, I-just-rolled-out-of-bed aesthetic. With all my meetings now on camera, I needed a new set of rules. Nobody expects you to wear a suit when you work from home, and casual, contemporary, polished, and put-together is the name of the game. So where does that leave us on Casual Friday? Does such a thing exist anymore, or has the tradition gone the way of Vertical Silos, Annual Performance Reviews, Micromanaging, and basing compensation on “potential” rather than results?

From a personal perspective, I never understood the time-honored requirement of eight hours in the office if the job only took me four hours to complete. And I will never forget my entry-level position, where my supervisor told me I should slow down because I was making the rest of the team look bad. What? Sad, but true. What I’m not sorry about is seeing outdated, ineffective, and motivational killing practices abandoned. Adopting methods that allow us to be human, encourage us to grow, and image life outside the status quo have taken far too long. Nobody flourishes in an environment where we are treated like mechanical cogs set in an automated world.

This Friday, I placed a crown on the shelf behind me and positioned my camera angle in a way that it almost looks as if I’m wearing it. The cardigan I pulled on over my “lounge-wear” t-shirt has a bathrobe vibe, and there is a box of wine on my desk. To be safe, I think I will keep the wine off camera.

How do you celebrate Friday?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer