Why some companies are still encouraging remote working

Something that has happened over the last couple of months is some companies have required employees to return to the office. In some cases, it is all 5 days a week and others are requiring all employees to at least be in the office Tuesday through Thursday. One of the situations that has happened is some companies have resized their office space so that few employees can be in the office at the same time.

Being able to figure out what is best for the business is very important. Do you need the employees in all the time or can you have them working remoting part of the time and then in the office at other times. So many people over the last few years decided that they wanted to escape the big city and they moved away from their office location because they figured they would be working remoting and only having to go to the office occasionally. This has happened for some people, but a lot of people have found out that they are required to be in the office more often.

What has happened to some companies was that given the change in business they had to downsize their location and that means that not everyone can be in the office at once. This is something that companies had to consider but, in some cases, it was either downsizing their location to stay in business or keep the big fancy offices and possibly must close the business. For businesses that had to downsize their location this means being flexible with how staff are going to be working.

We know businesses that have done both things of getting people back in the office either full time or most of the time and then companies that have downsized their space and now have a routine set up for various groups of individuals to come into the office or a specific day or two during the week. By doing what works best for the business is what every business needs to do. Some staff may not agree with the decision that is being made but they must respect the business owners as they are doing the best for both the staff and the business.

Being able to understand that not every business is doing to do the same thing is something that everyone must understand. Of course, there are businesses that are people facing businesses and yes, those people need to be in the office where people come to do business. For employees that have had to make decisions about their jobs because they have moved away from their former location that was something they did and must accept that will have to either move back or maybe find another position that is closer to where they now life.

The new business operation is going to depend on the actual business, and everyone must accept that there are going to be times when employees aren’t going to be happy because they must commute again maybe every day or even a few days a week. One thing employees must understand is that at least they still have a position given how many companies over the last five years had to close their doors.

Rebuilding ourselves

Through the last couple of years, things that we have done in the past have changed in a lot of ways. So many things that we took for granted are different now, and now what we must do is figure out how to adapt to the new way of doing some of the things that we have done so automatically in the past.

For a lot of people, how they work has changed because more people are now working from a remote location instead of going into an office daily. Yes, this is a big change for a lot of people because it has meant that they no longer have that commute which they might have used for reading or listening to things. The normal lunchtime was for doing those errands that you could fit into that hour.

Some benefits for being able to work remotely:

• Reduction on number of outfits that you need because so often if you are attending meetings remotely, people only see the top half of you.
• Picking up lunch at a food court is not an option when working at home, so the cost of meals out goes down
• The overall cost of commuting is way down because in some cases you only have to go into the office once or twice a week.
• Fewer distractions due to people wanting to socialize and interruptions for getting a quick answer to something.
• More family time because you aren’t commuting as much.

Some disadvantages for being able to work remotely

• Your time for yourself in reduced because you don’t have that commute time
• Team building is a lot harder when you are not in the same location
• Getting quick answers to questions takes longer because you can’t walk over and get the and answer.
• Interruptions from others that are also at home.

Yes, so there are both benefits and disadvantages for being able to work remotely, but they are things that we all must learn to deal with. It might be something that for some companies will be a temporary basis and for others it’s the new way of working.

They are so many other things that have changed through the last couple of years, and how we communicate and socialize with others has also changed. Now we can do a video chat or call, whereas before we would get together in person for those conversations. Conferences and community groups are also finding ways to have either a hybrid version of things, or they have also gone totally virtual. These are things that we all are learning to deal with.

In so many ways, these last couple of years have taught us how to use technology a lot more, and in some cases it’s a good thing and in other cases it’s bad. Senior’s that have never used technology or have used it very little have been impacted greatly due to these changes that have happened. In so cases, seniors have felt more isolated because their social gatherings have been eliminated, and they don’t have the ability to enjoy the company of others as much. So, if you know a senior that doesn’t use technology too much, make sure that you either visit them or call them on the phone to check in on them to make sure that they are still feeling wanted and important.

We are all rebuilding ourselves, and what we need to do is think about those around us and ensure that they are doing ok in this new way of doing things. Who knows how things are going to continue to change because it’s something that we will have to adapt to moving forward.