The unpopular opinion
I believe that I possess the unpopular opinion of whether working from home is really the answer everyone thinks it is. I, too was working at the time of the pandemic and was sent home in March of 2020, laptop in hand awaiting instructions of how we would resume our regular line of business remotely. At the time I was working with the Federal Government of Canada. Slowly yet surely we did get everyone online and back to work. We held our virtual meetings using microphones and videos, sent emails back and forth and spoke on the phone to supplement when other methods of communication didn’t quite get the job done. We made it work and we got work done. But is this now our new norm? Working remotely.
Here we find ourselves four years later and we are still having the debate of the benefits and drawbacks of working from home. Employers are trying so hard to balance keeping their employees happy with meeting their objectives.
Is the current model working?
Home for three days a week and in the office for two.
Is the infrastructure set up appropriately to support the employees while at work for the two days? Does the entire team show up on the same two days and are managers leading the charge to ensure they are making the most out of the face to face time teams have together?
Working for any large organization is all about defining and sculpting priorities and working as a team to achieve the key objectives is the crux of the job.
Some of the most essential elements, from the pre-pandemic era that I feel should be preserved, are the networking and collaboration pieces. The face to face discussions that brought out the brainstorming ideas, the team’s energy gathering force as they build upon a kernel and see detailed plans emerge to achieve their objectives.
Are the networking and collaborative aspects still working? Are younger employees, new to the workforce, getting the networking opportunities they deserve? Is collaboration working as well with this new model? I thrived under the previous model of working full time in the office and I enjoyed the face to face collaboration sessions and am a bit sad to see this in jeopardy.
Do I hold the unpopular opinion? I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts and opinions on remote vs onsite work. Leave a comment below.
“ “Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities.””
