“La” Home Office

Photo: iStock

Today it is very common that most people are looking for “new” ways of working and it is becoming more common for people in our industry (IT) to look for this kind of benefit.

However, I believe that as in all situations there are opportunities and risks (although many people deny the risks) and it is important to assume that a benefit like this also implies MUCH MORE RESPONSIBILITY.

The main opportunities that I manage to perceive are:

Coworker side: You

• Avoid “spending” time/money on leaving home (especially in big cities). Some examples: You don’t spend hours in traffic until you get to the company or when you return home; you do not take public transportation full of people or you do not face bad weather.
• You get more quality time as you can invest it with your family, friends and in your personal life in general. On the work side, I think you can get better use of time because there are more restrictions in sharing with your teammates, so the team leader tends to spend time in a better way than when the team members are in the same physical space.
• Productivity — taking it as an advantage now, and disadvantage later — you can work without distractions such as people interruptions and parallel conversations, the work schedule is your responsibility and you can choose the moments when you feel more willing to work. The ideal world lets you adapt your tasks to schedules in which you can work better and, therefore, be more productive.
• Communication: Proximity brings complacency, a leader who is physically close to his team member (meaning in the same physical place), takes communication for granted without having a “real” place to communicate. Being remote forces the leaders to keep constant and fluid communication with their collaborators to know what’s going on, and in addition, certain tools can be used (emails, videoconferences, instant messaging, telephone, etc.)
• Personal projects: You can invest time in another type of activities that is not working. It can be something academic, training, improve your English, even go to the gym or learn a new hobby.

Company Side

• Budget reallocation, the company can reallocate the money required to maintain an office and other expenses associated with face-to-face work -, i.e., rent, electricity, heating, general services, etc. in other activities or initiatives which can benefit the collaborators creating a different kind of engagement from them.
• It brings more talent: no distance to work will give more value to the job generally speaking, and you can get people who would hardly work in the company — for example, because they live in a place far away from the workplace — and they would do it delighted.

Photo: iStock

As in everything else, there are also certain risks that depending on each person are worthy to consider.

Coworker side:

• Company Social Rituals: Most people think that interaction face to face is unnecessary or can be replaced with other activities (at the beginning) however when time passes by working remotely they agree that it is one of the biggest losses.
• Harder to disconnect work from personal life: Planning and management become our best tools in regards to this separation and although it sounds “silly” we must educate our family so that they understand that even if we are at home, we are WORKING. This is achievable by creating a proper timetable and a specific space if not there is a possibility to mix both personal and professional life and therefore lower productivity.
• Infrastructure Failures: It is more common than we think that our power or internet services could fail, so it is essential to have a plan B. When we give the same “explanation” to a customer or our own team it becomes an invalid option, so you have to be prepared with a plan where you can move quickly.
• Healthless habits. It is part of the time management that I was referring to before, if you do not have a schedule set, keeping meal times and going to the gym or any physical activity before or after work your habits are going to be disrupted, which affects you, your family and therefore also your performance.

Company Side:

• Higher expectations: Being away may bring that the eyes of the leaders are on you, creating more demanding objectives than the ones provided to the team members onsite — wrongly -, however, as I have said before, everything will start from the responsibility you have in setting your work times, objectives, priorities, etc.
• Sense of Belonging: The feeling of isolation or lack of human contact with other coworkers may affect your productivity and effectiveness. And with them, the feeling of belonging to the company may vanish. For this reason, it is very important to take care of bonding and team building. Many people who do remote work can lose the purpose of their work for the company and with that, they can lose motivation to continue engaging in the company.

From my personal point of view, I love the type of organizations that gives you Home Office as an optional benefit, where there is an opportunity to go to an office or stay at home (without any retaliation) — because I know organizations that give “ bonuses for attending the office”.-

The home office is an excellent option for a company to grow without being limited by geography and leveraging the talent of other sites. And it can be a very successful option as long as both collaborators and organizations, know how to keep the communication channels open. I think that organizations should not fear of not having all their collaborators in an office — because it is incorrectly believed that they work less.

I would like to add that all great power, comes with a great responsibility: working from home may seem to be a paradise because you avoid seeing that coworker who wants to talk to you about the last chapter of Master Chef or spoil you from what just came out in “Game Of Thrones” or even having the pressure of your boss on your shoulders. But if you don’t have discipline, it’s much easier to fall into procrastination and eventually, frustration.

Having said that, the future of work is coming… let’s get ready for the challenge!