15 Jul Why should I return to the office rather than working remotely?
As an employee working, working in-office, remotely, or in a hybrid system have become the new options for our weekly schedules.
Many employees have loved working remotely, especially those employees who thrive when they are alone and working independently from a team atmosphere. Remote work has provided employees with more time to be with family and maybe more opportunity to travel. Who would pass up travelling to a warm climate during the dreadful winter months or have enough time to see their daughter’s piano recital? As much as there are several amazing benefits to a virtual home office, there are also advantages to returning to the office – even just for a couple days out of the week.
Working from the office allows employees to feel a part of a community. Sharing hardships and celebrating successes in-person is much more impactful than being sent the correlating emojis or messages from your colleagues. When in the office, there is this opportunity for other employees to share their experiences and to feel a sense of relatability with the team. This opportunity creates a connectedness that makes it easier to work together, and an appreciation that employees have others they can rely on when needed.
Working in a team setting can create a greater level of productivity and growth. It is easier to ask questions, collaborate, discuss, and compete with your colleagues. Because there is more opportunity for ideas to be celebrated and opinions to be shared, it can leave employees feeling more rewarded for their work at the end of the day. This method of working can provide a constant energy flow moving into the following workday, week, month, and year, because employees are witnessing how their effort adds value. Further, there is more opportunity to learn from those around you and learn not only from your mistakes, but from other’s as well.
It can also be better for mental health. There can be arguments that working without a daily commute and an opportunity for better work-life balance with a virtual home office could be better for an employee’s mental health, however, there are also health benefits to in-person collaboration. Constantly communicating through a screen can feel repetitive and uninteresting. Without real human interactions and physically witnessing employee’s reactions, support, and celebrations, work can start to feel robotic. It can become difficult to see the beneficial outcome to all the effort the employees have exerted.
Further, working in-person is better for building a career. The office is not only a place to complete daily assignments, but also to build relationships. These relationships can help assemble a vast network of people that could potentially lead to future successes. Learning about colleagues and superiors virtually can be very superficial and surface level. Spending the time interacting face-to-face can provide a better sense of a person’s personality and whether they can be a beneficial connection to develop throughout your career.
If you are an employer transitioning their workforce back to in-office work and want to establish policies to ensure employees understand the workplace requirements for their role, please contact KCY at LAW by filling in an online consultation request or contact us by phone at 905-639-0999 to book your consultation today.