9 Things I’ve Learned Working From Home for Amazon

Just over a year ago, I transferred into a work-from-home (WFH) role at Amazon. I’ve spent my entire career there in warehouses, working in, or directly supporting, the operation. I was excited about the WFH opportunity. It was novel and I was looking forward to learning a new skillset. Moving into the role, I was full of ideas about the glorious world of WFH. My wife has been WFH since COVID hit and I had romanticized the whole thing for years. I recently passed the one-year mark working from home and the verdict so far — it’s pretty sweet…but also not so great. <h1>Lesson Learned</h1> There’s a concept in psychology, specifically the study of wellbeing and happiness, called the Hedonic Treadmill. The human mind is capable of amazing feats and inspiring adaptation. We will, over time, adapt and level set our expectations to our current environment. This benefited us in our physical survival in numerous different environments. Unfortunately, like many evolutionary adaptations, it also comes with flaws. We adapt in all circumstances; so, if we are twice as happy as normal for a time, that level of happiness will become our expectation instead of an exciting situation. With WFH, I’ve traded one set of skills and problems for a different set of skills and problems. The first few weeks were great; however, I soon adapted to the speed of the Hedonic Treadmill — the flaws with WFH started to seep through. I like the team I’m on; I’ve been lucky in that aspect. Many people end up in a worse situation. Its possible to find yourself in a toxic, unsupportive environment at work anywhere, it seems. <a href="https://betterhumans.pub/9-things-ive-learned-working-from-home-for-amazon-a5bf5e0e3ed3">Website</a>