Is Remote Working Right For You?
Many people have found themselves working remotely by default because of the Covid pandemic and the lockdown measures that were put in place to control the spread of it. Some people have taken to it like a duck to water and others have found it much harder to get to grips with. Ultimately, it comes down to individual personalities and preferred ways of working. There is no one right answer and whatever fits you best is what you need to be able to thrive.
Factors Against Remote Working
Loss of In-Person Communication
The loss of in-person communication with colleagues was felt particularly hard by many people during the pandemic and those who struggled the most with this tended to be the age groups who didn’t tend to use the internet much outside of work for communication.
The younger age groups who are more used to online gaming regard communication as legitimate whether it is in text, voice or video format, as well as actual face-to-face contact. This means that they were more likely to still feel connected in a situation where they were unable to speak to people in person.
Multiple Distractions at Home
When we talk about working from home, we often picture this idealised, peaceful environment that is conducive to getting a lot of work done when for many people, the reality is very different. Many parents feel like they go out to work for some relative respite from screaming children.
Trying to get anything meaningful done with three kids under the age of five in the house would challenge anyone to their limits. It has hopefully given people in that situation a healthier respect for what their partner does every day while they are at work.
Finding it Hard to Limit Hours
While it is easy to leave an office on time for the commute home, it is harder to leave work behind when you feel like there is always more that you could be doing. Being able to switch off isn’t as easy when your living room is also your office and drawing that distinction between the two parts of your life can prove to be challenging in these circumstances.
If you feel like you have workaholic tendencies normally, these will only be amplified by working in your home environment and your work-life balance may ultimately pay the price, as may your sleep schedule.
Missing the Work Culture
The “work culture” may only extend to going out for a couple of drinks with some colleagues at 5pm but it can be a great way to unwind and get the stress of the working day out of your system before going home to unwind properly. It can also be a great way to get to know people better and it has certainly been a factor in a fair few workplace romances. The ability to connect on a friendly level with colleagues outside the office without the manager listening in is something that many people need to have in their lives.
Factors in Favour of Remote Working
Peace and Quiet at Home
Many people who are particularly introverted or who have various neurodiversity conditions such as autism, hate having to engage with people on a large-scale level and prefer much smaller gatherings so they may actually prefer working from home precisely because you don’t habitually engage with the same amount of people as in the office. You may accept a package from the postman but that is largely the limit of the social interactions you will have in a working from home scenario, provided that you live alone.
Remote Work Doesn't have to Mean Home Work
For many workers, being freed from the office environment has given them the ability to work from anywhere in the world. If you can work from a desk in your house, why can’t you work from a co-working in a warmer country for a month or two? Unshackling people from the office has broadened many of their horizons and now more than ever, especially because they were locked down for so long, many want to explore the world a bit, while still managing to do their job.
There has been an explosion in work-related travel opportunities with companies like Remote Year offering the chance to work from 12 different countries for a month over the course of a year and big players in the travel industry such as TUI going large on their marketing of “Workation” destinations. A workation is a “working vacation”, so you would still do your normal hours but could go for a quick swim in the pool in between work tasks and spend your spare time in the evenings and weekends enjoying the destination. This would save on vacation time and be somewhere between the two.
Increased Productivity / Flexibility
If you feel that you are able to increase your productivity when working from home, that is a big advantage for your company and is a major reason for allowing remote work to continue for a large proportion of the population. The increased flexibility of being able to attend to any household chores as they arise, putting some clothes in the wash or doing some vacuuming can make life a lot easier as it seems so much more manageable to do these types of things if you have a spare five minutes between zoom meetings.
Is Remote Working Right for You?
This really depends in large part on whether you have a family and a partner who live in the same house. This will determine how quiet or otherwise your working environment is and how conducive it is to getting work related tasks done.
Many people are desperate to continue remote work as they just work better in their own familiar surroundings. It has been particularly good for people who are neurodivergent or who have disabilities that mean working in an office environment is difficult.
Younger people really want to be able to get some work-related travel under their belts and work for a while in sunnier climes. If you can cater to Generation Z on this front, you should have their loyalty for the next few years.
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