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Full disclosure, dear Pandas, yours truly is a big fan of hybrid work. Working from home can be more efficient and relaxing than office life. Plus, the coffee is much better. And yet, working from the office allows you to have much more meaningful connections with your colleagues. Plus, it means you bring less of your work home with you. Not to mention that you get many more steps in when you’re constantly on the move.
Like anything else, remote work has its fair share of pros and cons. Any system does! It would be naive (not to mention disingenuous) to suggest that things are black and white, and that working from home is absolutely amazing or utterly terrible. Things are much more nuanced. And a lot depends on the character and work style of the employee in question.
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Investopedia notes that some of the main benefits of working remotely include the following:
- No commute time
- More personal space than at the office
- Greater flexibility in terms of your schedule and responsibilities
- More money saved, from commuting costs and work clothing to food and more
- Potentially more productivity
- Fewer distractions and less stress
- Better physical and mental health due to exercising more
Setting all of those wonderful boons aside for a moment, WFH isn’t without its drawbacks. Here are some of the biggest negatives of remote work that can impact you as a worker:
- Greater social and professional isolation, less collaboration, and weaker bonds with your colleagues
- Potentially more distractions while working at home if you don’t live alone
- Difficulties with efficiency if you struggle with motivating yourself
- Little to no innovation at work due to less collaboration
Of course, you can’t just consider things from the employee’s point of view. You also have to get into the mindset of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
From a business’s perspective, remote work also means that your employees are more satisfied with the greater flexibility. This, in turn, leads to higher retention rates. Which, in turn, means that you, as a company, spend less time and resources rehiring talented professionals who jump ship.
What’s more, remote work gives companies the ability to hire workers from pretty much any part of the world. That means that there’s a greater talent pool to choose from. Moreover, as a business, you can save on office space and equipment if some or all of your employees are remote workers.
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That being said, business leaders also deal with downsides related to WFH. Team relationships can feel weaker and ‘off,’ as there’s less proper team building.
On top of that, you face communication challenges, there’s arguably less innovation, and it’s hard to get to grips with your workers’ performance. It’s a completely different dynamic compared to in-office work, where there’s constant friction (for better or for worse).
As The Economist notes, working from the office, at least a few days a week, is related to a company’s culture from some business leaders’ perspectives.
“This isn’t just about productivity metrics. It’s about building the culture that will drive Uber’s next phase of growth,” says Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy points out that working in the office is better because “people riff on top of one another’s ideas better when they’re together.”
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Newsweek points out that major companies like Amazon, AT&T, Boeing, Dell, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Tesla, and The Washington Post are all moving to five-day return-to-office systems. Meanwhile, businesses like Apple, Google, IBM, Meta, and Salesforce are also pushing workers to work from the office at least some of the time.
That being said, other brands are doing the opposite. For instance, Pinterest is “doubling down on flexibility in the workplace.” Meanwhile, businesses like Airbnb and Dropbox are offering remote work policies.
"We conduct employee voice surveys twice a year, and since its inception, PinFlex [Pinterest’s remote work model] has been the highest-rated survey item every year. People love it. It allows them to more effectively integrate both their work and their personal life. It's particularly beneficial for working parents, caregivers, and people who have unpredictable life situations,” Chief People Officer at Pinterest, Doniel Sutton, told Newsweek.
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