Businesses suffered tremendous changes during the Covid era. The pandemic is officially over, and most parts of the world have no restrictions. Business is returning to usual, but the two years of struggle left unerasable traces that are now part of many company cultures.
Before 2020, working remotely was considered rare and not typical. Employees were expected to come to the office daily and work eight-hour shifts. No matter what the job was, people used to work exclusively in the office.
During the pandemic, everyone got sent home. Every employee that had the chance to work on a computer from home did their share of the work that way. Many realized this principle has advantages and disadvantages, but it was better working from home than going to the office for many.
People’s work-life balance improved significantly. They stopped paying a fortune for food and beverages outside, and wasting time commuting to work was history. When everything’s behind us, employers expect us to return to the office, but this is not the ideal scenario for many.
Because of this, companies introduced hybrid working. Some days employees work from the office, while others stay home. Business owners and managers think this is not the perfect way to run a company, so they expect people to come back to the office, and there’s a great reason why.
Productivity and motivation of employees are on another level
Productivity and motivation depend on many factors, but it’s clear that working from home lowers the motivation and productivity of your employees. Waking up minutes before you need to punch in the work clock, working in your pajamas, and often having the kids around is not ideal.
Although workers will argue that this raises their happiness, and happiness means productivity and motivation, it’s evident that people working from home will look for any chance to do something else but work. Whether it is preparing lunch, doing the dishes, or watching a movie – work could be unfinished.
It is a different working atmosphere in the office. Everyone around you is working. Everyone’s motivated and trying to solve problems. Instead of seeing the neighbor’s kids playing football in the yard, you’re seeing managers being professional, and this motivates all employees to follow the example.
Managers easily spot who’s doing their jobs and who’s lagging
Many employees working from home will argue that their internet connection is poor, they have power outages, their headphones don’t work on Zoom meetings, and they highlight all sorts of issues. Some of these situations may be true, but in some cases, employees take advantage of the situation and use it not to work.
Company offices have a network of computers with unlimited fast internet and machines providing flawless working conditions for their employees. Most companies will hire technology consulting services to provide everything their workers need, so there’s no excuse for not doing their jobs there.
In the office, it’s impossible to spend time not working and get away with it. You can’t complain about the weather, the room temperature, power outages, and internet failures. Everything’s perfect in the office.
Team meetings actually have value when done in the meeting room
If you’ve ever been to an online corporate meeting, you know that half of the time, someone’s talking without turning the mic on, and half of the people never say a word, and their time is wasted in awe. Online meetings are nearly entirely pointless.
When you’re in the office, things are different. Everyone pays attention to what is happening and can contribute to the meeting. Managers and employees work on solving issues together. Depending on the company and business niche, some businesses rely entirely on meetings, collaborating, and setting proper working strategies.
Business owners hate it when they end an online meeting, and by the next meeting, they realize none of the employees did anything of the things they agreed on. This is because employees rarely listen to what the managers say.
Many employees’ internet connections are truly poor, and they don’t catch some of the words their managers say because of the connection lag but will act as they did. Finding out who was wrong is easy, but that won’t get the job done. The company is only successful if work flows uninterrupted. That’s why employees in office meetings are a must, and that’s why many employees practice hybrid working.
Conclusion
If you’re a business owner searching for the best solution, these three points will surely be helpful for you. If you’re an employee, and you’re wondering why your managers insist on going to the office, these three points will explain perfectly why. No coin has only one side. There’s always more to what we see; in this case, working remotely, hybrid, and in-office all have different pros and cons.
