You’ve probably had that moment when you woke up in the morning of a work day after hearing your alarm go off and wished it was a weekend. Then, you put off the alarm and went right back to bed.
Well, many times, you may have shaken off the thought and prepared for work instead to later join the usual traffic of the city that never sleeps.
You may however feel lighter if you find yourself in the same situation, but now you have to work from home. The thrill and feel of being in control of your time and space is second to none!
Working from home has its perks — the one that stands out is that you don’t have to go through the stress of going to another location just to do your job; rather you work from your preferred location (usually at home), manage your time effectively, complete your tasks for the day and then you are fine. Also, you can envelop yourself from your colleague always doing ‘notice-me’ to be perceived as hard-working or that colleague that likes to bring up random gist during work hours.
However, there are flip-sides to it. There is something quite interesting about congregating in a physical office with co-workers to exchange ideas, observe and learn directly from one another. There is a way a physical space more easily enables collaboration and social skills.
Yes, I heard you thinking all these could happen if they took place virtually as well.
Remote work although more convenient, requires a great deal of discipline to remain productive despite distractions that might not come up in the physical work place. More so, the more usual instant feedback you get from your boss in an office space may not be the same; communication with team members can also be inhibited due to network instability and distractions, and the need to constantly invest on data and stable power supply to keep up with work can be nerve-wracking.
For me, working remotely has increased my sense of responsibility and commitment to work with little or no supervision. It has also helped me discover tools that have made my job easier. Overall, remote work can be a great advantage to self-development and can help you harness your intrapreneurial mindset.
I wouldn’t say I prefer remote work to office work, or vice versa. However, I think a fine blend of both is good for employees and management. Post-COVID work era has offered HR professionals these options to choose and maximise their workforce at little or no extra cost.
So which would you prefer — remote work, physical or hybrid?
Kindly share your thoughts in the comment section below.