It’s no secret that technology has brought on a lot of change in the workplace and in the way we work. 9-5 jobs are things of the past while cellphones and laptops have blurred the lines between work life and personal life.
I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the benefits/perks that organizations offer that matter to me. Vacation, health insurance are obvious ones but in recent years or basically since I entered the workforce in 2010, working remotely or work from home as its lovingly called is rising to the top. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always had a long commute to work – my longest being 1.5 hours one way. Sure you can do work while sitting on the train or read or listen to music but when you have to travel for 3 hours every day, the commute gets to you.
One of my previous employers had a great work from home culture. I worked from home every Friday, which was awesome. Three day weekends baaaby! I used to be so relieved Thursday evenings knowing that the next day I didn’t have to trek 1.5 hours to get to work. What I liked even more than having the flexibility to work remotely, was that my whole team from the VP down to the analysts embraced the work from home culture and believed that work would get done in time. There were no contracts or stipulations on how many miles from the office you had to be. As long as you got your work done, it didn’t matter where you were. Having senior leadership truly believe in this is critical in all team members feelings empowered to make the best decision for themselves and in this context in their work location on a Friday.
Working remotely one day a week made sense for me when I was living at home/close to my family. Fast forward now to my current situation where I am 3000 miles away from my family. Working from home would still be a great perk but what I would love is for companies having more trust in their employees to choose the work location of their choice every once in a while. what I mean by this is — visiting my parents just for the weekend is not economically feasible nor practical. So instead, if I work remotely 1-2 days of the week every few months then I can spend more time with my family without missing a beat at work! I’m happy, my employer is happy.
We mostly spend our time at work typing furiously on our keyboards either answering emails, or putting together powerpoint decks or doing some data manipulation in excel (and yes attending meetings). None of these activities require you to necessarily be in the office. You can successfully do all of them from the comfort of your home so why should that home not be 3000 miles away? I mean I’m not working on a cure for cancer so there really isn’t an emergency that would require me to be in the office to deal with issues face to face all the time.
I’m not advocating for working from a far away location on a weekly basis but every few months if you’re visiting family/friends, or going on vacation or god forbid dealing with an emergency, companies (and managers) should have trust in their employees to get the work done no matter where they’re located. Giving employees these small perks will go a long way in increasing happiness and retention. I will certainly be more happy with having this flexibility.
Additionally, companies and especially managers need to trust and empower their employees to make the best decision for themselves along with the organizations they work for, most notably in their choice of work location. I understand that its important to have face to face meetings and collaborate in person. But every once in a while or if there are appointments and personal errands to take care of, its better to have a culture where employees have the flexibility to alter their work locations to accommodate both professional and personal responsibilities. I strongly believe in the motto “as long as you get your work done, it shouldn’t matter where you get it done.”
I know for a fact that I wouldn’t want to work remotely 100% of the time. It’s quite lonely working from home without having any interaction with co-workers. I enjoy getting to know my co-workers and forming relationships but to reduce the commuting stress, managing my personal commitments and desire to spend time with my family, having work location flexibility goes a long way.
Organizations and managers need to first accept that working remotely (1-2 days a week) yields the same productivity as working in the office 5 days a week. Secondly, they need to have trust in their employees to deliver work irrespective of the location where the work is done. Giving employees flexibility in managing their work locations will have a significant impact on their wellbeing and satisfaction with their organizations. We have the technological capability to do so. Why not utilize it?