Since the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home has become the new norm – which has sparked debate.
For some, working from home can be the absolute dream. It can increase productivity, drive company success, allow employees to have a tremendous work-life balance, and eliminate those horrendous early-morning traffic jams.
On the contrary – it limits your ability for human interaction, after-work socials, and more – which is why some are against the lifestyle.
However – here is why we think that attitude is, to put it politely, nonsense.
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Why working from home is king
Many companies make decisions that mean remote working/working from home is being scaled back or discontinued altogether, and we get it.
In some industries and professions, maybe you do need to be present; maybe the nature of your job makes this essential, and you will perform better.
But where we do take exception to a lot of CEOs and senior executives is when they make bland, general statements that working from home doesn’t work period – it’s bad for those who work in this manner, and bad for the companies they work for. Because that is baloney.
Look, working from home isn’t for everyone – some people need the structure of going to work and need to be communicating face-to-face.
There’s nothing wrong with that – horses for courses, right? But let’s not tar everyone with the same brush – many people love the flexibility of working from home.
Properly organised and managed in a way that is good for the business, they can spend more time with their families, take their turns to do the school run when needed, walk the dog at lunchtime, etc.
And they don’t have to spend up to two hours travelling to and from work (how productive is that anyway?).
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GRV Media – our example
At GRV Media, which owns The Writer Lab, we are a 100% remote company. We have 150 staff and content creators providing a variety of functions (journalists, SEO professionals, C-suite and HR types, ad tech and operations staff, etc), and we are all motivated to work hard and smart in order to continue to succeed as a company.
We are highly organised, communicate well with each other and celebrate our successes. Our year-on-year business performance has been exceptional – and we are currently enjoying triple-digit growth (a lot better than some of our direct competitors who would rather have people travelling to the office!).
So, let’s get real.
Working from home is not automatically unproductive and bad for everyone and everything. There is a real place for effective remote working in the global economy, and CEOs and senior executives need to think carefully before dismissing the very concept as bad for business and bad for people.
Let’s treat people like grown-ups. And let’s not make knee-jerk judgements based on pre-conceived ideas and power plays.