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June 27, 2008
The Importance of Working in the Office
In a post I wrote a few weeks ago, I wondered why companies wouldn’t allow their employees to work remotely. After all, if you’re essentially just commuting into office headquarters to sit in a cubicle and pound away at your computer keyboard all day, why not do that from the comfort of your home instead? You’ll be spared a hefty gasoline bill, overpriced cafeteria lunches and, if you’re a guy, having to decide whether to wear a tie.
Makes sense, right?
Well, there are a few people who say that coming into the office is important.
P.D. Love, whom I correspond with on Twitter, is one of them. He’s the general manager of a software development firm and manages a team of about a dozen developers. “When we moved to our new office, we set up the space with half walls between desks to keep the line of sight and communication open,” Love says. “Encouraging discussion and convergence with an open and easy environment for looking at, asking and responding to questions and ideas has proven very beneficial.”
And why not have those discussions online or over the phone? Love insists helping junior staff and working creatively “are better supported in the in-person structure.”
Count Todd Defren, principal at SHIFT Communications, among those who also see the value of employees collaborating in the same physical space. "I am…a big believer in teamwork, the impromptu brainstorm across a whiteboard, the rolling up of sleeves, the clinking of beers after a long day’s work -- the camaraderie that can only come from working in the same office."
Ginger Lennon, who’s also a Twitter pal, is another proponent of getting her work done from the corporate office rather than at home. She’s an assistant account executive with Racepoint Group in Waltham, Massachusetts, and suggests you need to be “much more organized” to be an effective telecommuter. “You don’t have that added reminder when someone drops by your desk to follow up with you,” Lennon says.
So, what’s your take? Is face time with coworkers really needed to get the job done? Leave us a comment below.
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Posted by Bryan on June 27, 2008 at 12:25 PM in The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments
After a decade of running a successful and competitive tech PR firm - that's all virtual with over 30 employees across 10 states - I obviously believe in virtual teams. That being said, it isn't for everyone, it isn't appropriate in every industry and there are a heck of a lot of people who would not be successful at managing or working with virtual teams. Whether it's control and trust issues or simply the ability to self-discipline, working together when not physically in the same place takes a special group of people.
With a team that is extremely close, caring and effective, PerkettPR has managed to find those people. We're a testament that virtual teams can work. It's part of our secret to success!
Posted by: Christine Perkett | Jun 28, 2008 11:05:57 AM
I believe it is a matter of productivity- and there are positives and negatives in both ways.
However, you're far more likely to get more done FASTER at home due to fewer distractions (if you have a proper workspace and some self control). When working in the office, you constantly have people stopping by interrupting your workflow or otherwise just wishing to chit-chat, slowing your progress.
Also, most workplaces tend to have outdated equipment (in my experience)- your computer at home is likely to be more powerful, saving you time you'd otherwise be spending waiting for a program to load up.
Still, it is more convenient to have your cubicle neightbor pop over to help solve a quick problem than try to call in for help, and a necessary and productive meeting is really only best served in the office.
On that note, however, it is NOT necessary to be in person or require traveling around the country simply to have that personal contact and business handshake- clients understand it's the 21st century, and the time and money you're saving in travel expenses just to shake their hand is appreciated, not to mention the lingering health impact travel has on those of us who hate to travel- I know most of my 2 day out-of-town trips really had an impact of up to two weeks recovering from the time loss and stress impact of the trip.
At the end of the day, there's no reason a person can't work entirely from home and be even more successful than the person driving in to the office. Companies just need to continue to provide their employees this opportunity more often.
Posted by: Jaym | Jun 28, 2008 4:44:59 PM
I work from home and it works out great. If you are self-disciplined, experienced, and motivated, it shouldn't be a problem. Working at home can be earned in the same way that other perks at work are earned. However, it does take a certain kind of person to pull it off and it's definitely not for everyone.
Posted by: Jennifer | Jul 8, 2008 2:41:26 PM
I think that a mixture is best; it's good to have everyone get together in the office to share ideas at least some of the time. But I personally would love working at home even one or two days during the week. Obviously, it depends on the job, but I bet most of us could split our tasks into those that need teamwork and those that require quiet concentation.
Posted by: Karen | Jul 8, 2008 8:41:20 PM
Most of our nurses work from home. The job can get done from home, but I do think there's some definite benefit to being in the office at least occasionally, if not at the very least to be 'seen' because remember: out of site, out of mind. While I am in the office, I am NOT out of mind.
Posted by: Beverly | Jul 9, 2008 6:08:52 AM
This is a very interesting subject to me. As an admin I can understand the importance at being available to my internal team, physically, here in the office. However, given the current economy/price of gas, my commute (50-miles roundtrip) and the fact that our company has gone to great financial lengths to enable all of us to work remotely, I can't understand why I shouldn't be able to work from home when I want/need to. I can forward my phone and carry a blackberry in addition to being able to access the network from home.
In a time when most companies "in the city" are offering some sort of commuter benefit to salaried employees, it seems that 1-telecomute day a week would be a nice bonus for all of us.
Posted by: Caroline | Jul 9, 2008 8:09:03 AM
I think working from home makes total since, if it it the right kind of job. I work at home two days a week and the recent of the time I am in the office. My job concerns a great deal of writing, research and phone interviews, all things that can be done from any location. My equipment at home is faster and I get so much more done because I don't stop for chit chat--if it's really important people call me but few call just to shoot the breeze. I should point out I have been in this career for over 20 years and I would not suggest any rookies doing this-being able to seek out more experienced co workers for advice and direction is vital. And I hate to say it but many of these younger workers need to learn how to act in an office setting and polish their customer service skills--let the old war horses have a break when it makes sense--or cents!
Posted by: Suzanne | Jul 9, 2008 9:09:14 AM
It does require a good dose of self-descipline to work from home. And even then, I'm a big believer in ad-hoc team building moments and opportunities, so a mixture of home/work office is best.
Posted by: Cory | Jul 9, 2008 9:41:54 AM
I totally agree. I have to waste 2 hours of my day on the train just to go into the office where my productivity can be practically cut in half by people stopping by, people talking on the phone and people deciding to have a loud conversation right next to my cube. I could do all that needs to be done in half a day from home.
What about meetings, you ask? Well, if they're absolutely necessary, schedule all of them on one or two days of the week and get them out of the way.
I'm not saying ALL of us should be able to work from home. If your job is mostly people-centered (you have to interact with clients, you need to have brainstorming sessions as a team), you probably need to go to the office. But for people who just "pound away at a computer keyboard all day", as Bryan writes above, it is both inefficient and tiring to HAVE TO be in the office every single day of the week.
Posted by: Al | Jul 9, 2008 10:14:48 AM
Businesses can't have it both ways. They want to be able to plug and play with most positions; to be able to move people in and out of positions and to be able to cut on demand as the stockholders require. It's going to be extremely difficult to build esprit d'corps with a team under those circumstances, knowning that the team is not meant to be longlasting. Therefore attempts to create teamwork by lowering cube walls (more on this in a moment) and team building are dooomed to failure by definition.
The cube farm is dehumanizing; the lowered walls on the farm is both insulting and privacy invading. There's a reason the cubes are built without doors and walls to the ceiling - a transparent physical manifestation of control.
Posted by: Albert Ross | Jul 9, 2008 12:08:30 PM
I am 100% positive that I can do more work faster and better in my home office than in our corporate office. Unfortunately my position requires me to travel and meet with clients as well as attend corporate and project meetings. A well organized meeting with a set agenda is productive but many times I am stuck in meetings where the people are just talking to hear themselves and the attendees appear to repeat the same things over and over. Those ones are a waste of my time. Send me an email, short and to the point,and I will respond. Face to face can be important especially at the start of a project but as things progress a lot of it can be done over the phone or by email. I think a mix is best with the most productive time being spent in the home office and keeping the corporate meetings to a minimum.
Posted by: Steve | Jul 9, 2008 1:39:11 PM
When I used to be a Marketing Communications Manager for a major Telecom company I often would work from home if I had a pile of writing to do or if snow would make my 50+ minute commute (each way) too treacherous. Ultimately I needed face time with team members but whenever I'd work from home my productivity level was higher than when in the office. Without the drive-by chitchat I could focus and crank out some serious marketing literature.
Posted by: Christine | Jul 9, 2008 2:37:21 PM
In a lot of culture settings it's not about the functionality of working remotely. Many times it is about having to be seen to play the politics and get face time with certain managers. If you are not seen then you must not be doing anything or be of any value. That is the attitude of a lot of folks. I've seen plenty who show up and do almost nothing but play the politics and rise to the top while others may not be seen as much but get a lot done.
Posted by: Randy | Jul 9, 2008 7:23:25 PM
In my situation in my last job most people on the floor spent the day discussing celebrity gossip or the vicissitudes of their personal lives. I seriously think I could be more productive if I were at home. It would also have solved some of my transportation problems. As for everybody helping each other, the rule was that we were only allowed to ask certain designated people if we had a question or problem; this could probably have been handled just as well by email.
Posted by: Dee | Jul 10, 2008 6:13:24 PM
I work from home so I know exactly what you mean. I really miss the people and the culture. The bantering and the office bickering. Hell I even miss the office politics too.
Posted by: Free Ringtones | Jul 10, 2008 9:38:41 PM
I spent yrs working in the office, and a short amount of time telecommuting. Right now, I work from my own home 100% of the time.
I agree with the others who have said it takes a certain type of person to work from home. If you are not focused, confident and skilled, then you'll need someone else to bounce off of all the time. However, if you are comfortable working independently, can meet deadlines (either company- or self-imposed) and don't mind the relative isolation, then go for it!
I always got a lot more done from home than going to the office. I worked in Houston, TX, so the commute was always an issue. Workers often arrived hot and grouchy from the traffic snarl, so it would take a while to get their coffee/beverage of choice, gripe-festing with co-workers, then finally getting down to work (perhaps). I often heard more gabbing than working. I DON'T miss hearing about a co-worker's puppy piddling on the rug, or how their kid did this-n-that. And yes, I have kids and pets. I just don't want to hear it ad infinitum when we have work to do!
I do not miss the office politics, butt-kissing, seeing who could wear the shortest skirt to keep their jobs in lieu of skills. And yes, it still goes on all the time. Sure, it varies, but it goes on.
If, on the other hand, you still have very small children or otherwise have a lot of home distractions, then it might not be for you. I found you definitely need to treat it like a job, which means getting up just like normal and focusing on the work at hand. Even though I am now in biz for myself, it is the same thing - it often means working MORE hours than when I was in the office, and there are no benefits like paid vacations, etc. (Of course, a corporate telecommuter might still have benefits.)
I work in the middle of the night if needed to get a store up and running while the shopping it at a low point. Like today, I got up at 5 am to get on top of a job and get it done early (which allows me board time! LOL!)
I think most corporations are indeed missing out on the benefits of the virtual office. Skills are skills, and if the work is getting done on time with the quality level needed, both parties would benefit from the telecommuting aspect. Less traffic, certainly less fuel costs, less office wardrobe costs, less square footage of office space needed (or that money saved could go towards upgrading your equipment!), etc etc. With the internet and phones, people can be in touch as little or as much as they want/need to be.
It won't work for every job and not with every worker. But for those for whom it will - it would be a waste of time, resources and staff to do otherwise!
Posted by: Beth M. | Jul 11, 2008 10:18:20 AM
WOW, i this ever one of my pet topics!!!! As a software engineer, when I'm in the office, I often get so much "collaboration" from people dropping by my desk that I cannot concentrate on an complex task I may be trying to do. Add to that the noise level of fellow "collaborators" (one in particular consistently acts like a 2-year old with the noise and tantrums) and I pray for days when I work at home. The open office makes it very challenging for many of us who need quiet to concentrate on what we're trying to accomplish. I've tried wearing headphones, but really all that does is use pleasant "noise" to drown out less enjoyable noise. I certainly agree not everyone is ideally suited to work at home: I happen to live alone so there are virtually no interruptions, unlike the office, when interruption are pretty constant. Aside from the quiet, there's the cost of my work commute. After 10 years of being able to use public transit to get into the office, I now must drive, and by working at home just 1 day per week, I can keep my costs down significantly, not to mention do my part for "green". At this stage in my career, I don't see myself accepting a job that doesn't allow working from home. at least sometimes. I like the savings, I CRAVE the peace and quiet and flexibility, and need it to perform my duties.
Posted by: unknownwarrior | Jul 11, 2008 11:01:26 AM
I have worked in both the corporate and remote settings and could argue the effectiveness of either. Working from home requires 1) an appropriate work space away from the distractions of home life and, 2) the dicipline to concentrate on the work and not the home "to do" list.
Pro's of office: developing relationships with your co workers, physical presence often assists in obtaining deliverables from team members who might otherwise ignore a call or an email. physical presence in meetings offers a stronger opportunity to contribute through the ability to read body language and knowing when there is an opportunity to jump in to the conversation. Attending meetings via conference call often makes me feel less a part of the project.
Pro's of home: no drop in interruptions. no office politics. no commute, no dress code, no unnecessary trips to Starbucks, no costly lunches, no gossip!
I have always had a strong work ethic and found it valuable in transfering to a remote position. With no small children at home I have a better opportunity to maximize my time than some of my associates with small children at home.
I DON'T miss the office politics!!
Posted by: Siobhan | Jul 11, 2008 12:55:26 PM
I worked for a company that allowed me to telecommute. It was actually my job requirement that I worked from home. I loved it, now that the company is out of business I dread going back to work. Most days I did work in my pj's and I was able to take lunch to pick up my daughter from school. I worked really hard, probably harder than any job in the past!! A lot of people I know were under the impression that I could just slack off and I'd still get paid, that wasn't the case. I'm sure I could have but because I worked from home I felt like I had to do even more, prove that I was working as hard as those in the office. And most of the time I was working harder than those in the office! I was talking to a co-worker on the phone, she asked what I was doing, I told here all the things I was working on (probably at least 4-5 things, and 2 were things she had asked me to work on because she was "too busy"). I asked her what she was working on and she said "oh, I'm just reading the Victoria's Secret catalog"! I was so upset that I was stressing to get all these things done in time and she was in the office slacking off.
Point is, I think working at home is great but it also has downfalls. You also have to be committed to working otherwise I'm sure it is very tempting to slack off and not get work done!
Posted by: J | Jul 15, 2008 3:27:07 PM
"The cube farm is dehumanizing; the lowered walls on the farm is both insulting and privacy invading. There's a reason the cubes are built without doors and walls to the ceiling - a transparent physical manifestation of control."
I agree completely with this quote. I hate cubes and wish everyone just had their own office. I never notice people coming up from behind me, unless I'm explicitly listening for them, and I can never get away from my cube mates' personal phone conversations. Nor can I have any of my own. If I need to make a personal call during lunch, I have to go out to my car to do so. I can't just close an office door. I would love to have my own office.
My organization is moving in about a year and they are going to do away with offices, except for a select few, and have departments' workstations set up in a horseshoe around a mini conference table. This is supposed to help with collaboration, but, being an organization that doesn't do much creative or innovative work, at least, in many positions, this set up makes no sense.
Not to mention the number of times people stop by to chat when they can see into your cube every time they walk by.
Posted by: Arual | Jul 19, 2008 8:18:31 AM
I work 100% from home and love it! I run my own company, so face time is no longer an issue. I used to think meeting prospective clients face-to-face was important so I would go out for that, but now have clients all over the country and am not going to spend the money and time running all around to meet everybody. Plenty of people sign contracts without ever seeing my face! People can judge your sincerity, intelligence and experience by e-mail, phone voice and Web site, at least my clients have decided they can. As I expand, if meetings become an issue and I want to be able to see faces to judge, then I'll set up video conferencing. We have all kinds of technological tools; commit to each person working in the setting that is most pleasant and productive for each of them, and you will find the tools that will allow you to work effectively and efficiently! And I agree with the many comments here that state we are much more productive at home, but it takes self discipline and a strong work ethic -- the more distractions at home, the more self discipline you have to have to get work done; on the other hand, the more potential distractions (i.e., children), the more productive you will be during those hours you have carved out for your work, so that you can get done & get on with the rest of your life. So a lot of it boils down to, do your bosses respect their employees enough to trust them to get the job done while out of sight? If so, then the office politics will support your working at home.
Posted by: Ellie J. | Jul 21, 2008 6:42:39 PM
I am college student who is currently working full-time during my summer--I am tech support and I am a home-based agent, and I'd like to admit that working at home is pretty sweet. I enjoy working in pjs, chilling at my desk, not wasting as much gas or laundry, and waking up 10 minutes before my shift starts.
But I do crave those opportunities to drive in (even though driving into the office for me is 30-40 minutes away) because I'm starting to get sick of my room. Also, I miss my coworkers. No matter how exciting a job seems, everyday I am convinced that your coworkers are the most exciting aspect of your job, and if you get along with them, the work day goes along well. Working at home leaves me a little lonely from social interaction, but also, if I'm having a bad day, my morale is low and it's hard to convey with my coworkers how I feel.
But that's just my perspective.
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Posted by: FindFinancialFreedom | Oct 13, 2008 9:26:30 AM
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