[fmco soundbites] wfh? wfo?

Picture of a young mother working from home with a sleeping baby next to her
[2 June 2021] Day 2 of fmco* in Malaysia

Language changes in the new norm?

Last night, I was making a comment in a friend’s Facebook post when the question hit me. Since the pandemic started, we are so used to the wfh (work-from-home) acronym. Why do we say ‘work from home‘, but never ‘work from office‘?

We are so used to work being done in the office that we never have to qualify it when more information. This is representative of a society that are mostly wage earners.

I remember a time way back when many were business owners and their family members would work for the business. It was common to say ‘work outside‘ to describe their children who do not work for the family business. But I digress.

Working from home is no longer a new-norm. It’s a now-norm. Increasingly, companies are going to make this permanent, like Google. Working from home will be normal. We probably will need to start using wfo (work-from-office).

It’ll be interesting to see if our language will change to reflect the realities.


#wfh #language #culture
#gp #ginaphan #trainergina

(Image by Standsome from Pixabay)

*fmco stands for Full Movement Control Order


About the Author: Gina Phan is a consultant and trainer with Zinfinity Consulting. She currently conducts courses in workplace performance skills. Click here to contact her, follow her on Facebook or connect with her on Linkedin.

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4 thoughts on “[fmco soundbites] wfh? wfo?

  1. Yes Gina, out team.use both terms as we work according to the roster, sometimes WFH, sometimes WFO. TQ. 🙂

  2. Even when the term SOHO was created by developers, WFH did not appear until this pandemic was ‘created’ ( Discussion for another day). We are entering the era of the Great Reset.

    • Hi Margie,

      And now there’s SOFO and a few other combinations.

      Agree with you on the Great Reset. Last year, I was just saying that this pandemic is a big correction (using stock market terminology). It isn’t altogether a bad thing.

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