Is working from home a blessing or a burden? Weighing the pros and cons

Space to work, reliable internet and job requirements are all essential for successful remote work. Which states have them all covered?

The pandemic brought positives along with negatives. One positive was the ability to work from home. While people were making jokes about attending Zoom meetings without wearing pants, clothing lines were introducing WFH (work from home) business dress. Restrictions have been relaxed for over a year now. Has the jury returned a verdict on working from home? And can we thrive in a hybrid workplace environment?

Pros: You maximize productivity - Zoom meetings are a lot shorter!

Everyone was pretty keen with the opportunity to get paid for doing your job without leaving the house. There are many good reasons:

1. Goodbye commute. You saved an hour or more at both ends of your day. You saved the cost of tolls, gas or train fare too. Your workday could be stretched by those couple of hours saved. If you are in sales, this is found time.
2. Hello, balanced home life. You are no longer putting in long hours away from your family. They might be in the next room. This can make childcare during the workday more practical. You can have lunch with your spouse if they work from home too. The commuting time saved can be applied to helping your children with homework.
3. Wardrobe savings. Although people joked about meetings without pants, most people understood business work requires business dress. Your dry cleaning bills plummeted because you aren’t wearing business dress on trains and walking in the rain.
4. Self-motivation. You are in sales. Your objective is to maximize your productivity. You could not stand the typical office distractions and meetings you were asked to attend. Zoom meetings are a lot shorter! You can focus on activities that ring the cash register.
5. Your office is wherever you are. There might have been projects you wanted to address over the weekend. You might have needed to head into the office because you were accessing sensitive material. When “Work From Home” was rolled out, security was put in place to solve this dilemma.
6. Companies started rethinking their need for office space. Assuming productivity stays at acceptable levels, companies can address “Does everyone need an office?” If people work from home, branches and offices can be downsized. That can be a big saving in the long term.

Cons: Collaboration suffers - You lose the “we are a team” feeling

It seems like Work From Home is an idea whose time has come. Not exactly.

1. Big brother is watching. Some firms were concerned people would treat working from home as paid vacation. They bought software to track employees onscreen and phone activity. This could be a proxy for how much time you were spending at your desk.
2. Office politics. It happens everywhere. Someone wants what you have. They jockey for favor with their direct boss or senior management. You are unaware certain meetings are taking place. One day, the department gets reorganized. You are the last to know because you worked from home while others worked onsite.
3. Client relationships suffer. Personal contact matters. You have taken clients to lunch, bought them drinks or attended a hockey game together. Getting to know someone strengthens relationships. You become friends. It’s hard to fire friends. When you have an online or phone only relationship, the personal bond suffers.
4. Video conferencing is overrated. I think we pay more attention when four people are seated around a table compared to four boxes on a screen. You cannot look into their eyes that easily. You miss the body language messaging. You cannot easily tell if someone isn’t on board with an idea or has an issue.
5. No water cooler spontaneity. A friend told me he conducted an experiment when he returned to the office. In one day, he counted a dozen instances where he ran into someone in the hallway and had a conversation that wasn’t planned. An idea or an opportunity was the outcome.
6. Loyalty suffers. The English poet John Donne wrote “No man is an island.” When you work remotely, you lose the “we are a team” feeling. Work can be assigned to you, but collaboration suffers. Firm loyalty suffers too. It becomes easier for competitors to poach talent and harder to keep sensitive documentation like client lists safe.

Working from home is likely here to stay to some degree. But we still need to head into the office, interact and build relationships to be successful.

Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.