In my last post, I explained that remote working is a life changer. I hope you had time to read the linked blog post in the previous installment. There is an interesting quote in Remote working – Now a business imperative.
Still, the survey found a disconnect between employers and employees in terms of just how often those four walls should come down. On average employees said nine days per month would be the right amount of time to telecommute; employers thought it would be about four. That’s a cultural legacy, Markezich said. “So much of business was built around the workplace,” he said. “But over the past few years technology has made it so people can be more productive spending part of their time working remotely.”
So much of business was built around the workplace. The effect of this cultural legacy becomes apparent when you read the excellent posts from Scott Hanselman:
- Being a Remote Worker Sucks – Long Live the Remote Worker
- Tragedies of the Remote Worker: “Looks like you’re the only one on the call”
As we can see, there is a natural bias when you have people working remotely and other working in the headquarter. It is almost an “us” (the headies) vs. “them” (the remoties). But it doesn’t have to be like that! I believe many companies would benefit from fully embracing remote working by removing the headquarters. With that everyone is a remotie. Knowledge can no longer be concealed in the headquarter. Boundaries are removed. All are treated equally. Communication has to happen through the collaboration tools. There are even more benefits for companies. Imagine the costs you safe but no longer needing to pay a magnitude of money for the headquarter infrastructure, heating, electricity and much more.
By the way, Particular Software is a fully dispersed company. There is no headquarter people go to work. Everyone is remote.
Unleash the potential of remote working and get rid of the headquarter problem!
