Why it’s time to rethink your company’s remote working strategy

You’re a startup founder. You’ve had an idea, you’ve developed the tech, you’re ready to launch and take the business to the next level.

First item on the agenda: expand the team. Up until this point, home has been where the heart is–there or the many, many WiFi-enabled coffee houses that litter today’s cities.

You now have a decision. Do you allow new starters to work remotely or do you look for a more permanent physical solution? Increasingly, it appears the answer lies somewhere in the middle, with coworking spaces offering the best of both worlds–and for good reason.

Home Is Where the Heart Is?

Remote working has boomed in recent years, driven primarily by the rise of cloud technologies and improvements to enterprise messaging platforms such as Slack. According to 2017 State of Telecommuting in the US Employee Workforce, the population of non-self-employed remote workers rose 115% between 2005 and 2015–ten times faster than the rest of the workforce. A survey by Society of Human Resource Management last year found that more than 60% of organisations allow some type of telecommuting, up from 20% in 1996.

However, scratch a little deeper and not all is as it seems.

While the trend is still certainly towards remote working, it seems many companies are growing disenchanted. IBM — one of the earliest exponents of remote working — last year decided to end the practice for its entire US marketing department. They join other major companies including Reddit, Bank of America, Aetna, and Yahoo.

This is to say nothing of the many tech companies who seem to have made it their mission to keep employees in the office at all costs. Google, Facebook, and Apple are all famous for creating workplace cultures designed to keep employees in the office as long as possible, offering freebies such as a laundry service, child care, and food. They even allow dogs in so employees don’t have to go home and let them out. Essentially, anything you could need to go home for, they’ve got it covered. Facebook even offers workers a $10,000 bonus if they live near headquarters. They don’t do this because they like spending money–they do it because having people together in a physical space is good for business.

A Naked Emperor

The appeal of remote working is easy to understand. From a business owner’s perspective, remote working significantly reduces overheads. Overheads can be the death of small businesses, and office space can be one of the largest items on the bill for businesses that are already strapped for cash. Remote workers also take fewer sick days and less holiday, giving them more work days overall.

From an employee’s point of view, it is also a pretty sweet deal on the surface and it is often cited — particularly by the millennials now flooding the workforce — as a key perk. The absence of a commute, the comfort of your own home and the opportunity to be around loved ones while working are all appealing to potential employees. These are also appealing to workers. Who doesn’t want to be able to work in a dressing gown with the TV on in the background?

It also provides you with the sense that your employer trusts you. It implies a certain degree of autonomy, which is particularly vital in an age when so many long to be entrepreneurs working for themselves.

One Is the Loneliest Number

The reality of remote working is, however, very different. While it may seem fun, the loneliness caused by isolation has serious long term impacts of mental health. It also has a profound impact on a company’s ability to innovate.

In a Fast Company article last year, Dr. Dhruv Khullar, a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital who has written about the impact that social isolation and loneliness has on his patients, said of remote working:

“As people grow more isolated in their work, which comprises more than half of most people’s day, that is in many cases a missed opportunity to interact. Over time I think we will see negative effects of working remotely, working alone, working digitally, on people’s health.”

It may seem obvious, but it really is better for your health to be around people. The article also cites a case study in which call centre employers changed their staff’s staggered break schedule to one that allowed staff to take their breaks in groups. Sarah Ellen O’Farrell, a behavioral insights strategist for Hill+Knowlton, notes that “it’s a very simple intervention that has been shown to reduce turnover, increase health, increase productivity, increase loyalty; all because people have the chance to make connections when they otherwise wouldn’t.”

Working from home can also make you paranoid about your function in the company. Out of sight, out of mind may be a cliché, but it often holds true. In an HBR study, 52% said they work, at least some of the time, from home. These employees were more likely to report feeling their colleagues mistreat them and leave them out. They worry that “coworkers say bad things behind their backs, make changes to projects without telling them in advance, lobby against them, and don’t fight for their priorities.”

Want to Boost Innovation? Get Out the House

None of the most creative major tech companies encourage employees to work from home, for the very simple reason that it discourages innovation and collaboration.

When Yahoo banned remote working, CEO at the time Marissa Mayer for one stressed that people were more collaborative and innovative when they’re together. She told workers in the memo that, “Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo, and that starts with physically being together.”

It is now universally acknowledged that innovation is a team effort. The romantic idea of the tortured genius is dead. Organisations must foster a company-wide innovation culture to be successful, and this starts in the office. Even kitchen small talk has team value. As good as modern chat software is, there is no substitute for being in the same building.

How Coworking Offers the Best of Both Worlds

The real benefit of remote working is flexibility. Traditional offices are expensive and unsuited to the realities of modern business. The pace of growth and the time spent out the office traveling in a global economy mean that there is often time that the office you’re spending good money on is going unused.

Offices can also be restrictive in a global tech market. There are a number of hubs the world over — think London, San Francisco, Berlin, Moscow, Amsterdam — that are home to talented people, cutting-edge events and other companies to potentially partner with. Being restricted to one office space in one city can put the shackles on an otherwise mobile and global team.

Coworking spaces essentially offer the best of both worlds. They allow for the flexibility of remote working, but they also provide the same atmosphere and access that is so vital for innovation.

At Primalbase, we believe access to shared office spaces provides the best of both in a situation where otherwise you miss out either way. For employees, access to Primalbase offices the world over gives them a base–whether they’re on business, they’ve moved to a new city or they want to attend an event.

For companies, Primalbase offers scalable office spaces and access to hubs across the globe without sky high costs. Indeed, when you’re finished needing an office space, you can sell your token on for a profit, meaning that you will essentially have paid nothing for renting the space. Tokens can also be leased, so companies have the option of renting the space for money when they have no need for it.

Remote working can be a useful element to add to your working practices, particularly if your employees are spread out or if your business is based out of an expensive city. Certainly for cash-strapped smaller businesses, it is great that tech now allows for remote work as a legitimate option for a workforce. However, it is also rife with problems. Shared office spaces such as Primalbase’s network offer all the advantages of remote working, and a permanent office.

Come on down to check one out today and see for yourself! Drop us an email to primal@primalbase.com to arrange a tour.