Corona diary: Farewell to parental leave

Since my return from parental leave, I have been working in the home office because of where I live. A situation for which I am very grateful. I really appreciate the trust. One thing has changed, of course: the distance to colleagues – without small talk at the coffee machine or the joint lunch break in the canteen. There are simply fewer points of contact.

Working from home

And now suddenly everyone is in the situation. Almost everyone in my team is currently sitting at home alone in front of the laptop, and not only my video can be seen on the big screen: Everyone is part of the joint video conference and meets virtually. Space is deliberately being created here to ask briefly how my colleagues are doing at the moment and how things are going before the real action begins. I am probably one of the few people who feel closer to their colleagues because of the now common home office situation.

“Bye and see you soon” – without a hearty hug

And now, as I slowly approach the big round table again, here it comes: the parental leave, the maternity leave of our second child. Only a few days left, and I am allowed to concentrate fully on the baby in my belly (and not to forget: taking care of the big brother). I look forward to the time and am quite happy and thankful when I think of the offspring – but it makes me sad that I can’t take the train to Cologne to our corporate headquarters again in the current situation. And even if I could, there would hardly be anyone there for me to say goodbye to again. It really is a strange feeling to say “goodbye and see you soon” in the last team conference – without shared ice cream and without hugging each other. I will miss the colleagues and I will keep my fingers crossed that everyone stays healthy and will soon be sitting together again. And then I really hope that the situation will allow me to come and visit them all soon, on a shared ice cream in Cologne.​