The pandemic, that burst at the beginning of 2020, took by surprise a lot of companies that had to adjust to a new reality. Each organization had to incorporate new tactics and technologies, in order to create a smooth employee transition into the world of remote working. Since then, a lot of companies out there decided that the new reality of remote working will become an integral part of their philosophy and some of them even provided employees with the chance to choose between going to the office or working remotely forever.
Many companies believe that this situation brought a lot of advantages in the workplace, such as increased productivity and flexibility for every team member. Also, remote working was dealt with a lot of excitement from many employees due to the savings it brought in terms of time (saved commuting time) and money. But, like everything else in life, it comes with some drawbacks, and returning to the office is very important for many different reasons.
Team collaboration went downhill
Since every person is working from their own space, it is much more difficult to collaborate with others. This has a negative impact on the projects that are running inside a team because it means less teamwork and development. Moreover, this situation hurts newly added team members the most. A junior associate that is added to a remote team cannot develop all the necessary skills that he/she could if they were working in the same space as the other team members. Approaching someone to ask a question is much more difficult than a Microsoft Teams or Zoom meeting.
Imbalance of work and personal life
When you are working from home, it is much easier to overwork yourself. This happens because you are working from your own space and you do not have in mind when your day at work is over and leave that space. Although this may be helpful sometimes, because you want to complete a task, in order to end your work peacefully with nothing left behind, this may also lead to burnout, stress, or an imbalance between your work and your personal life.
Distractions are all around you
If you work from your office, you can easily focus on your tasks. But, when you are working remotely, you can be as well easily distracted. When you are at home, you may have in mind chores that have to be completed and start doing them. Also, since no one is watching you, chatting or talking on the phone is happening more frequently and with more liberty. But all these can lead to decreased productivity and higher levels of losing focus.
Isolation
Although remote working may sound like a good idea, it can even end up hurting you on a psychological level. If you are left alone at home all day, with no friends or family around, you can easily feel lonely and isolated. Spending time with people, even if it is only in your workspace, provides you with the minimum social interaction needed, in order to not feel the aforementioned feelings. Furthermore, when you are working from the office, you can easily see the results of your hard work paying off.
Remote working is not something that you should not practice as a company or an individual, but you need to always keep in mind the benefits of in-office collaboration and the ability to learn new skills and abilities there that cannot be taught via a web camera.
