I Thought Fully-Remote Was the Future of Work. I Was Wrong.
People are coming back together and I love it.
Thursday morning, the commute was a little inconvenient today. My train was delayed by 15 minutes coming into Edinburgh. I remind myself of how things used to be, with delays being the norm. At least I had a seat on the train, a luxury I remember not having. As I come out of the train station, the sun is bouncing off the city buildings. I jostle my way through the crowds, heading towards the office. Everyone has somewhere to be, some destination that they’re aiming towards. The sheer number of people in it is in stark contrast to my typical morning working from home. The buzz is kinda infectious.
09.30 am — I arrive at the office. I say the standard ‘morning’ to various colleagues as I stroll towards an empty desk. I sit next to my colleauge and we immediately start a conversation about the weekend, an upcoming work trip, and agree that coffee is indeed needed to kick off this day. We go to get coffee and meet another colleague. The conversation continues to flow, mostly about non-work related topics.
“Ash, can I grab you for a coffee later today?” somone says to me. Sure I say, I try to keep my calendar free for exactly this situation. We agree that 11.30 would be a good time, and we go our separate ways. When I return to my desk, I notice another message on my slack. “Hey, I noticed you’re in the office, have you got 15 minutes to catch up today?” Sure, I reply. I’m beginning to see how this day is going.
As the day progresses, I realise that I’m interacting and having conversations with people from all over the business. People who I wouldn’t have interacted with if I hadn’t come into the office. If I had remained at home, I would have had some interactions over Slack and Zoom, but not like this. My quota for human interactions has been dialed up massively.
The community is still firmly divided between the “office vs home” There are strong views on both sides of the debate. Believe me when I say, I was firmly in the “remote-work” camp. I’m an introvert through and through, social interactions are hard work for me, exhausting at times. After a busy day of too many humans, I crave nothing more than solitude, with perhaps a hint of quiet jazz playing in the background. The COVID-19 pandemic is however firmly behind us, and I’m beginning to see why people are returning to the office.
Here are some of the key benefits I can see of office-working, and why I believe people are returning to the office en masse;
Social Interaction and Collaboration
We have an innate need for human interaction and collaboration. While technology has facilitated remote communication, it cannot fully replicate the spontaneous brainstorming sessions, face-to-face collaborations, and impromptu conversations that occur in a physical workspace. These interactions foster creativity, innovation, and a sense of camaraderie among colleagues. The best conversations I have are face-to-face. It’s how we build strong relationships with each other.
Separation of Work and Personal Life
Working from home has blurred the boundaries between personal and professional life. The physical separation offered by an office helps us establish a clear distinction between work and leisure, promoting a healthier work-life balance. In this blog, I write about how to find your ideal work-life balance, I say;
“Your ideal balance can change from week to week, even day to day. Sometimes I want to take it easy and reset through deep focused work. Sometimes I want to have lots of social interactions in the office, and go out for dinner. There isn’t a perfect work-life balance that works for me every day, because I want a different balance every day. A good balance one day will not be a good balance another.”
Returning to the office allows you to mentally shift gears, and to do a different type of work that you can’t do at home. Sure, too much office can be detrimental, but so can too much home. It’s about finding the right balance that works for you.
Enhanced Environment for Community and Belonging
Offices are designed to provide a conducive work environment. They offer ergonomic workstations, specialized equipment, and infrastructure that can significantly enhance productivity and efficiency. Modern offices provide quiet spaces, meeting rooms, and collaborative areas, allowing individuals to focus, brainstorm, and engage in group work effectively.
The office serves as a hub for social connections and a sense of community. At FanDuel we have a brand new Edinburgh hub, which is a brilliant space for fostering community. It provides opportunities for team building, networking, and forming professional relationships beyond immediate job responsibilities.
Coming together helps us to create a stronger sense of belonging, foster camaraderie, and build trust within our teams. These connections are vital for employee morale, job satisfaction, and organizational culture. The hub helps us all come together as one team.
Remote work has undoubtedly revolutionised the way we work. But the recent move of companies across the world to encourage people back to the office highlights the inherent human need for social interaction.
We are collaborative, social animals, and there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction. Technology has made work possible, but we thrive best when we are together. By embracing the office we can benefit from things that fully remote cannot give us.
I don’t think I’ll ever aspire to be in an office 5 days a week, but I now see clearly how office work is a vital component of a well-rounded and fulfilling work experience.
