Bto or wfh? It’s not a fight unless you make it one

My best friend and I meet once or twice a year. It has been like that for quite some time now — and yet, we know everything about each other. The important and less important things, the little daily annoyances as well as the big events of our life. Since I know from this personal experience that technology can eliminate the almost 1500 km distance, I am always surprised how more and more people urge for developers to return to work in an office setting.

Psychology says…

I have read articles from the psychologists point of view, saying working from home isolates people. As I am no psychologist, I am a little hesitant to argue the point, but I feel like it must be discussed. Because the thing is, people all over the world are becoming more and more isolated — regardless of where they work. Modern technology gives us the tools to communicate and eliminate distance, but also the tools to escape reality while hooked on the infinite scroll.

I was a working from home developer during the corona lockdown. We had so many meetings, so many conversations, so many connections every day, it was impossible to feel lonely even for a second. Working from home does not mean working alone — only that you have online presence instead of physical. And frankly, unless you are hugging your colleagues quite frequently, there is not much you are missing out on.

You will have less social interactions…

Be honest: how much of your social life is provided by work? And how much of your personal life is blocked or cut short because you are not home 10–12 hours a day? This may be just an isolated personal experience, but what I see is that people working from home tend to spend more time with their families, have more energy at the end of the day to give to their friends and loved ones.

Saying working from home will make people lonely is assuming people have no life outside of work. That may be, but I think the chain of reasons and consequences gets a little entangled here.

If you wake up at 6 am to make it to the office by 8 and spend your morning having breakfast, getting ready, maybe fitting in some learning, news reading during commute, then leave the office at 4pm to be home by 5 only to realize you need to do groceries, clean up the house, cook, maybe a short work out or keeping up with your hobbies would be nice too, you will find yourself running through the day — no time for anything but the mandatory.

As opposed to if you wake up at 6 am and start working at home at 8 am, you have plenty of me-time, you can grab a lunch with a friend or your spouse and at 4pm when you close your laptop for the day, you just walk out of the room and you are home.

In the first case the only place to socialize, like it or not, is at work. The second case, you socialize with whoever you like. In the second case, you CAN have a life outside work — which should be much healthier on the long term.

But the economy…

Office buildings may never really go extinct, but sure enough sooner rather than later most of them will become obsolete. It will hurt. The economy will suffer, when big companies pull out of the rental market, when parts of towns previously buzzing with office workers during office hours become ghost towns with tumbleweed rolling down the street while the fiddle is crying in the background…

So everyone, let’s go back to the office to postpone the inevitable breaking down of the real estate market! I wonder: if they find a way to replace people with AI, will the AI have to go to the office and buy pastrami sandwich for lunch at the deli on the corner so the office district stays lively and capable of maintaining all the shops and services?

People know what’s best for them

I probably don’t sound all that serious getting carried away with all the exaggeration, but truth to be told, employers treat employees like children. We have been working for over 2 years strictly remote and the sky didn’t come crumbling down, but now we have to go back to the office while we are being told it is good for us.

But is it?

It is certainly good for the employers. Having a work-life balance is important, and they will agree with you on that one — and long as your life does not come in the way of your work.

Do you work to live or live to work? Because for me a lot of times it certainly felt the latter. Employees who work from home become more independent. They are self-organizing and take initiative. They are like the kids when they first leave the nest — sometimes worried, sometimes making mistakes, but eventually they will figure it out.

Employees do not need their employers to tell them what’s best for them — they can figure it out on their own.

But the team spirit!

Nothing builds friendship and cooperation faster than sitting in adjoining cubicles and having lunch with people you know nothing about. Or? If you want to build the team, you gotta put in the effort. Shared experiences, conversations outside of the work environment provide much deeper connections for your team than casual Friday.

Even toddlers know that business does not happen in the meeting rooms. Not really. Business happens over a cocktail and shared stories, over informal lunches and shared experiences. Same goes for the employees. Team building does not happen when sitting in the same space, working. It happens when your people share experiences, honest laughs, when they make connections beyond work.

People who are connected, friendly, care about one another are going to make an absolutely stellar team. They will have each others back, they will pull together when times are tough, and even better news: they will be less likely to quit, because they will have a work-family where they belong.

…is it time to leave the office?

Now all this does not mean you need to cancel your office rent and go nomad with your team meetings tomorrow. Maybe your employees or a subsection of them actually does want to go to the office. Maybe they do enjoy getting away from home or working during commute.

All it means is employees are adults, fairly capable of deciding what is best for them. If your best interest is to keep them, then your best interest is to keep them happy. And some of your employees will be more than happy if they can do a load of laundry or a quick vacuuming in their lunch break, so they have their evenings or weekends free. They are probably going to be happy enough to show up at the office when they are needed, on their own accord, without being badgered into it. They are also going to be well rested, well balanced and generally more productive. In the end, everyone wins. Would that be so wrong?