Remote work is not a solution to businesses nor employees / day

Currently, we can observe that the return of the office is taking place in the US, and such initiatives are also available on public administration in Latvia. As the manager of a major company, I follow these changes, which depends on the company’s processes and its activities. I believe that what is happening is a perfectly logical turn, as recent years have also revealed the negative parties of remote work that have not been previously assessed due to lack of experience.

Undoubtedly, technically, remote work is no longer a problem. Experience has shown that distant work is not a solution to businesses and institutions or employees themselves. The reasons for this are many, I will mention several.

First of all, with remote work, staff make themselves « transactional resources », which become impersonal and substitute early or late. It is virtually impossible to grow and develop a career remotely, which has a negative impact on both the employee’s motivation and growth and the development of the company.

It is also important that an effective organization culture cannot be formed, no matter how technically well -developed the form of remote work is. It also requires additional planning and supervision, which in the event of remote work is in itself a large -scale work that creates a burden and cost.

Employees are not just a transaction

When it comes to remote work, it is usually about productivity and how to measure it. And so is probably the biggest problem with remote work directly for the employees, not the company or its management. Namely, remote work makes an employee a « production resource » – a specialist who supplies a certain job at a certain time.

This can be acceptable and effective from productivity in terms of productivity if we look at it narrowly. It works in certain sectors (for example, IT), but mostly disappears in such a process as a personality value. Working for most of us is not just specific betrayal. In addition, the technical measurement of work efficiency in many professions does not really work. For example, how many hours a day the employee has to connect to the employer’s computer system, in many cases affecting his achievements very conditionally.

There is also a social dimension in which colleagues meet, discuss plans, joking and exchanging purely human communication and energy. It is in face -to -face colleagues that show their personality, their energy and ideas. In person, with their personality, people build careers and find new paths of growth, learn from others, inspire and inspire. And face -to -face is also a process that also allows you to find purely human fulfillment of colleagues – we often have true good friends, good acquaintances and people who understand and support us.

Nothing of this is possible in remote work. We can, of course, say that people also maintain contact with technology, but the reality is that those people who remain only in a remote work space for a long time fall out of work social and career early or late. If a person wants a meaningful addition to the world of work for his life and growth, the remote work does not work for it.

The culture of a company has a meaning

Each company has its own culture – it is often something elusive, but actually very important. The culture of the organization is the set of expected behavioral rules in the company, that is, everything and what reaction we receive from colleagues in the context of various daily and strategic events. It is the culture of the company that determines how active colleagues are involved, how communicating, creating and sharing ideas, criticizing, how mistakes and the good are perceived, and the priorities of the job determine.

The same thing can be done in different ways (and speeds), and it is the corporate culture that determines the actions in a particular company. It is important when the management and team of the company form a targeted culture to achieve their goals. It is often heard of « innovative », « conservative » or « modern » companies and the like – they are cultural characteristics and it is the culture that creates the value of new business or institution services in everyday work.

Remote work does not allow an effective organization culture, as the work team is simply not available. Culture is made up of both the company’s official communication and the countless small communication opportunities – conversations in the elevator, at coffee, debating projects and even following a certain dress style. None of this is possible with remote work-online meetings, emails and productivity control tools are not enough to create a socially efficient, supportive, positive world of work with ideas and satisfaction with the professional role of each employee.

And yet, each manager has his own experience in communication with the employees and knows that it is much faster on the site, because you don’t have to write or call every question, you can simply come and discuss. The rhythm and structure of the work, expected and necessary to achieve the result are clear and understandable. As a result, all this saves the company’s time and resources.

The benefits are obvious

It is sometimes mentioned that employees nowadays want a « flexible » job and sometimes they understand remotely work. But it’s definitely not the same. Flexible work allows employees to plan their working hours on their own. This is possible in some professions, but in many – no, and then the employee has to work, for example, from 9am to 6pm, only at home – without colleagues, without collective and without socialization.

And, which is very important, often without any physical activity, because in reality we do not all do sports, and face -to -face seamlessly provides the opportunity to move in everyday life. In the long run, it helps maintain health, which is in the interests of both the employee and the employer. It is also important for many not to be alone, and the usual face -to -face work is again helped.

Of course, it would be wrong to completely deny the remote job opportunities that provide us with technological progress. But in many industries, if the company wants to work truly efficiently, it could be a rather exception from the norm, such as on a business trip or in a special case.

However, the benefits of daily business activities are obvious – more efficient work, faster decision -making, the ability to exchange thoughts with colleagues, help each other and gain experience, build a career, socialize and gain collective support.