Welcome to the final part of this blog series! It’s been a while, and I hope you got to know our team a bit better.
We have already covered remote work details in part 1 and part 2. We touched on the challenges of working in an office in part 3. Today we draw a bottom line and talk about the advantages of office work.
Fasten your seatbelts, folks, we’re reaching the end of the road.
Communication
As always, it is all about people that surround you, and it is all about communication. You may have the shabbiest office, but if you get along well with your colleagues, an old table and chair won’t matter much because they can easily be substituted (which is not as easy when it comes to people).
Good communication motivates and helps. Here’s what Artur, our frontend developer, says about working in the office environment:
“We have great technologies that allow us to see and speak to other people in real time. But it still can not replace real-life communication … Communication helps you to keep your mind fresh when work is monotonous. It has a good influence on speed and quality.”
Collaboration
Office environment fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing. Brainstorming, discussing, arguing, proving your point, hearing your coworkers’ perspectives, receiving feedback, etc. is a part of the work process and completing your tasks. Oleksandr, our director of engineering, says:
“When you are explaining your problem to somebody you will most likely find a solution on your own. By explaining you understand the problem better … No offline communication makes me sad. Google Meet helps a bit, but not much”.
Andrii, our backend developer, notes that socialization “helps to get knowledge and see things differently”.
Our recruiting specialist Anna also listed having “people to discuss mutual topics related to work or the job area” as one of the advantages of working in the office.
Support
Some may disagree, but I am strongly convinced that to be productive and efficient people need support. They need to be listened to and heard. They need to know that their input is valued. They need to see the results of their work really working. They need to be able to rely on their teammates and be sure they won’t let them down. They need to feel a part of the team. They need to know that they can ask for help and receive it.
Support can be shown in a thousand different ways. I think the essence of what I want to talk about is in a comment that our frontend developer Artur made:
“I think it [advantage of working in a professional office environment] is a work atmosphere and a work team. The first thing will keep your attention on work-related problems, and the second will not let you be overwhelmed by them. And when both have a good balance, work at the office becomes very comfortable.”
Conclusion
At the end of the road, it turned out that there are no winners or losers in the remote vs. office battle. Paradoxically, several of my colleagues wrote long lists of benefits that they enjoy when working from home, but when it comes to choosing a side, they still want to work in the office. On the other hand, there are some that won’t trade remote work for working in the office no matter what. So, the ideal case scenario is to have a right to choose.
What are your thoughts on remote and office work? What works better for you personally? I’d love to read your answers if you have a minute or two to fill in my questionnaire.
I hope you enjoyed the journey!
Yours truly,
CX Friend