3 Pros and Cons of Remote Working

Pros and Cons of Remote Working

Before Covid working remotely was considered an exclusive benefit that only a few could acquire. It was even considered one of the top benefits a company can offer to its employees. I remember many business owners or CEO saying that only a few positions can actually be remote and that’s why it will never become something the majority will “taste”. Then Covid hit and mostly everyone was working remotely.

In other words, these Business owners were wrong or did not want to admit that it could actually happen sooner than they said. Now that Covid is something that we consider to have ended (which isn’t), many corporations are asking for their employees to come back. Some examples are Tesla and Apple. Many employees don’t like that though and have decided to search for another job opportunity.
What are the Pros and Cons of Remote working though?

1(con) Technology Dependence

As you know working remotely requires having a laptop in order to work from home or anywhere else. Most companies provide the necessary equipment but I can be a pain for them to have to deal with the logistics and the issues that may erupt. Mostly for any issue the IT team has to solve it remotely which isn’t always easy. Also, if you work from home in your country it’s relatively easier to get your equipment as you have to either visit the company’s premises or have someone ship the equipment to you.

It gets quite harder when the equipment has to be shipped to another country. It takes more days, there may be issues in between and other such things. Also, note we are all dependent on our Internet connection. In Greece for example for 2022 we have the worst internet speed compared to what we pay, which is the highest in Europe. Thus, anyone who is working remotely has to ensure that their internet speed is adequate for the workload.

2(con) Decreased Teamwork and low Social Interaction

To tell you the truth I don’t quite agree with this as I believe it depends on the Job. For example, I as a recruiter I am constantly on calls with my team each day. Also, in many IT team projects for example except the usual calls they have each day, they talk via slack or something similar throughout the day. Ofc it’s not the traditional way of teamwork by having the person next to you but it doesn’t mean that’s not working.

Also, some people actually prefer to work that way and are more productive. In the best-case scenario, a Hybrid model (some days working from the office, some days working from home) may work for people that want some interaction.

3(con) Laziness

Believe it or not, that’s one of the main reasons most business owners switch to work from the office model. They think, that being on your own space, you will not be as productive as you could be in the office because there are many distractions and nobody actually “controls” what you are doing and how you work. I get that and I believe there are people that not actually working and getting paid but I believe the vast majority are more productive and happy that way. I will explain more below.

1(Pro) Saving Money and Time

One of the best things that remote workers are fond of is that they actually save a lot of money and time working remotely. The truth is that most companies have headquarters and offices in certain parts of a city. Also, as you can imagine the vast majority live in other parts of the same city or maybe in another city/town.

In other words, some people have the opportunity to work from their town instead of moving to the “big city” and start paying rent and stuff. That way not only they are happy that they don’t have the extra costs it’s actually an opportunity to have other towns and cities grow. As you know most people throughout the world are moving to big cities in search of jobs. Thus, the big cities are overcrowded and the other towns are getting smaller, with no life and no opportunities.

Also, if you actually live in a big town the distance between the company and your home can be too much. Here is an example that’s actually coming from myself. I work remotely and if I had to go work from the office each month, I would lose 3 hours in total on buses and trains and -30 euros. If I used the car it would take -2 hours per day and -300 euros due to high gas prices. In other words no life and money.

2(Pro) Boost in Productivity

I quite disagree with many companies that are saying people who work remotely are lazy. I tend to believe that the exact opposite is happening. When you have the opportunity to work remotely it means you have the opportunity to save time from traffic and to save money. Thus, you can sleep better, have a better life balance, and of course be more productive at work.

In fact, in many talks, I had with other people working remotely I realized that many are actually working more because they have access all the time to conduct their work from home. Also another personal example, I tend to start working half an hour earlier than the starting time and also work half an hour later from my time because I really have no issue doing so. If I was on the company’s premises It would be really hard for me to work an additional 30 minutes- 1+ hour because I could lose the train or bus and end up home like 9-10 at night. Nobody wants that I believe.

Moreover, to all those that are saying that productivity dropped, I tend to disagree. I believe that they are some kind of control freaks that want to “see” every move their employees take and at the end of the day they don’t want their employees to have a life but instead they want them all day long working. In fact, I read a post saying that an Apple Manager quit his job because he did not want to come to the office neither he nor his team as they were happy and the productivity was better.

3(Pro) Broader Audience

Working remotely is an opportunity for each company to attract talents from around the globe. You don’t have to search people only from a certain city that the company’s premises are but instead, now you have the whole country, or even better a lot of different countries to find what you are searching for. This will lead to some awesome news employees that will share their culture and ideas with every team and help the company grow as well.

So what do you think? Do you prefer working remotely, from the office, or a hybrid model?

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