‘Hey, is it okay if I work from home?’
First jobs can tell you a lot about how your life ahead should/would be like.
And I’m not talking about giving tuition, coffee barista, behind-the-counter-summer kinda job. I’m talking about paycheck-to-paycheck, two hours-to-reach-work, and where’s-my-coffee kinda job.
Among many others, mine taught me about working hard, and how people can be anywhere and yet get work done.
It’s always amazed me and to be perfectly honest, it did take a while for me to settle into a space where working remotely was perfectly acceptable. But at the same time, there were — and will always be — a bunch of company frontrunners and leaders who find it difficult to wrap their heads around the concept of flexi working.
Are we still under the impression that being physically present guarantees being productive?
Welcome to the concept of the #PresenceParadox — if you’re not under the boss’s eye, you’re probably not working, right?
You must be lying…
You know the time when we were told by Woody Allen that 95% of success is about showing up?
It’s time to move on.
Companies like Adobe, Remote.com and Wework are already ahead of the curve. By changing their policies and offering multiple flexi-options, they are reminding employees everywhere that they could be sipping coffee in their PJs, and yet getting work done.
Would you believe me if I told you that 86 percent of people surveyed on topics around working remotely, said they preferred to work alone to “hit maximum productivity.”
It’s strange that the tedious commute to work is a badge people like to wear.
Really, if the most traffic is encountered at peak hours, and the peak hours happen to be the time people leave for or from work, why is nobody talking about the significance of work commute in someone’s life?
And the rocketing rental rates around office hubs?
Bring me my LAN and my Latte
Thanks to technology, a lot of our work today is digital. Tele or remote working basically gives you back as much as you’re willing to put into it.
And what better way to maximize your potential and muscle than via modern technology. Technology has enabled work environments that are much more flexible and customizable. And the workers of today are demanding more flexibility.
Small tasks that need running around can be automated. Think technology and presence paradox at work, and think collaboration tools that help you work on projects, track them, share them, AND still be connected to the people you’re working with. All this while you’re probably making a grocery to-do list but nobody needs to know about that…
In technology, we trust
Technology also reminds us that it needs to be updated frequently. You’re going to need innovation more than anything to envision a smarter, more productive world.
Your work caveats of yesterday are going to become the innovations of today. But how do you get people to build and think new?
How do you drive the streak of innovation in your employees?
Let them work.
A happy employee — who has better work-life balance, stress-free hours, and good health — can deliver top-grade work without all the fretting and fuming.
Come to think of it, the belief that working under someone’s thumb can help you be more productive, springs out of a lack of trust and accountability. We don’t need any more burned out workers still putting themselves through the transit of traffic-coffee-talk-traffic. And we sure don’t need anyone adding to increasing pollution and decibel levels.
Employers need to trust their employees, instill in them the inspiration for a larger goal, and give them their space to grow their project, in their own way.
To get your people to innovate, you need to invest the best in them. Empower them with tools that takes away the load from the work-load.
I work for Flock, the team messenger. I’m lucky to be a part of an enterprise that seeks to serve the rest of it by providing an all encompassing collaboration platform. I learn new things everyday about using technology to its best advantage. And that’s what Flock really does.
- It helps you create and assign to-dos and reminds you when you forget.
- It helps you have your own meeting room fit in a laptop, or a desktop, or a phone.
- It helps you brainstorm on a project with your team. And multiple teams. At the same time.
- It helps you streamline and organize your chats and conversations.
- It helps you build apps to boost your productivity.
But most of all, it helps you get work done. On ground/off-ground/from home/from hospital/from your boring work commutes/on the desk/off the desk/with or without office gossip.
Isn’t it wonderful how technology has made things so accessible for us and yet we keep focussing on being present at the job.
More innovations in the collaboration space and tech space at large are trying to do away with the stigma of the #PresenceParadox and I’m quite excited to watch out for newer ways to work from wherever your journey may take you.
-Authored by Shivangi Gautam, whose everyday battles include battling traffic and making it to work in time. Also, a Content Marketer at Flock.
