Remotely work?
Work-from-home (WFH) seems to divide people, with many strong opinions and considerations; After more than a year of fully-remote work I want to share some perspective.
Covid changed many businesses and forced many workforces into a fully remote setting. It probably opened a lot of eyes, and while it was going on there was a feeling; “this is going to change everything”, and as it always does, many things returned to the status quo.
Having worked remotely before (while studying), it wasn’t anything new for me, but I heard family and friends having difficulties adjusting (i.e utilizing Slack/Teams/Discord for the first time, among other things), while others seemed to be having the time of their lives; no commute, fewer distractions, more flexibility and (for the introverts1 among us) less social exhaustion.
Me, being quite the extrovert I LOVED going to the office. Granted, I had a short bike ride to the office so the commute wasn’t an issue - using any excuse to go. When I decided to go into data engineering, I picked a remote-first company, and my biggest uncertainties were not regarding the different fields of work, but about the lack of social interactions.
I have adjusted, and gotten used to working from home; I do miss the watercooler conversations, and the canteen, and do go to our office when possible, but it’s one of the few downsides of otherwise great employment.
And with that, however, I often find myself defending remote-first companies.
Backlash of remote-first
On LinkedIn, in media, and among peers, I hear a lot of backlash and critique (Some are direct quotes):
“Innovation suffers from remote work; nothing beats talking over the table or at the coffee machine.”
“Humans are social animals. Remote is anti-social.”
Commuting is great for mental health; mentally switching from “work” and “home”
“I realize I have no strong work memories from remote work. They are all from the office. Sh*t, what are we doing”
It hurts work-life-balance
People get no exercise
We can’t trust our employees; how will we know they are doing what they are told
Aren’t you lonely? I would miss seeing other people.
While some contain valid truths—humans are, for the most part, social beings—physically changing location is also great for mental health.
Some are ridiculous; driving a car to an office is not exercise - and if you don’t trust your employees you have bigger issues that an office won’t fix.
I don’t claim to be a mental health expert, and there is a lot of great writing on the subject2. Other (greater) engineers have shared their thoughts. However, I do see a lot of misconceptions, and I feel in a unique spot - working remotely and promoting it, while preferring the opposite.
Addressing the Drawbacks
Addressing each point of critique, I aim to share my perspective and suggest potential solutions. I may overlook some aspects, so please feel free to share your pros, cons, and tips in the comments.
Commuting
Studies do point towards commuting being good for you, so it’s a valid argument. However, working in an office is not the only way of getting structure or the context switch.
For me, children are a huge help here. Biking at the daycare in the morning is a great way to start the day and get my body moving. Timing it with our daily standup (which I’ve previously written about) and getting on the call a bit early enables me to check in with my coworkers (and small talk about whatever; Talking about the weather is more interesting when you are in different countries). Eventually, the day has a natural end at a predetermined time because I have to bike back to the daycare. If it’s been an exhaustive day, I might walk and some days we’ll go to a playground or maybe take a stroll through the forest on the way back. I’ve hogged the chore, even if my wife is home, I’ll always do the commute because… it's nice.
I might work additional hours in the morning or evening, but in a more relaxed setting, maybe turning off Slack and other distractions, which enables deep focus time.
I am, however, not saying you need to get a bunch of kids for WFH to work - They’re an expensive solution to the problem. Dogs are probably cheaper, and an even more cost-effective option like fake commuting can address the problem. Interestingly, we need a new term for taking a walk - but it seems quite obvious. You don’t need a car, to sit in traffic and it’s probably a lot better for your physical health (and the environment too!)
Work-Life Balance
I do sympathize here. It requires strong boundaries. I can recommend putting your work mode on your phone on a schedule to automatically turn off. It is also important to physically change location when working remotely. I am lucky enough to have a dedicated home office. However, if your workstation is in your bedroom and you also spend your spare time in front of a computer that is non-ideal. I can recommend reading material on how to improve life quality when working remotely. There is a lot of great material out there:
Generally speaking, it’s both a gift and a curse to love your trade; If money wasn’t an issue I would still be writing code daily. If something work-related is on my mind, it is difficult to just let go; luckily my family enables me to follow that motivation when it comes, and my flexible workplace enables me to take a shorter day the next day or the day after. I don't have a lot of great tips here and encourage ideas in a comment below. But please, people, don’t overwork yourselves.
Brainstorming and communication
I wholeheartedly agree here. I like Domain-Driven Design and generally feel it’s easier to observe and understand domains and people face-to-face. However, remote-first does not remove that option. As the meme goes, many things could have been an email; however when that isn’t the case we fly in and meet up. That’s okay.
On top of that, it’s still a new state of affairs for a lot of trades, and we as humans have to relearn practices and develop new tools, as the needs arise. There is another crucial point; enabling remote-first requires investing in infrastructure. Your office expenses are shrinking, however, you might need to invest in a variety of tools to accommodate (chat platform, online whiteboards, virtual meeting software, etc). A great upside, however, is that it’s much easier to preserve a virtual whiteboard than a physical one (I haven’t found a laminating machine big enough yet!)
I can recommend reading Is Extreme Collaboration Remotely Possible?
Work Memories & Bonding
There are multiple things at work here. One is the:
Imagine working fully remote all your life. Will that bring cool stories to your grandkids about your career?
I’ve had lots of great memories. It was a sidebar when talking about remote work and standups (however the image does allude to it!)
Lots of great memories and inside jokes about weird drawings and games, as well as the same type of war stories of different incidents, migrations, and heroic tales of various things.
I have, however, experienced that if I don’t physically see my coworkers occasionally, my brain sort of forgets that they are humans. Informal virtual conversations do help, but I still need to see them in person. However, that is luckily still possible. We have a few mandatory social events and a bunch of optional ones. As David Heinemeier Hansson writes:
If you're running a remote company, especially an internationally remote one, I strongly recommend finding a way to fit meet-ups into the budget. If not twice a year, then at least once. The human dividends are huge.
Socializing
… if you are an introvert, prioritizing where to spend your energy is life-changing.
First I want to stress that I still talk with coworkers for a few hours on average each day (be it pair programming, planning, brainstorming, or whatever). So some days I am actually socially exhausted.
Furthermore, it seems historically short-sighted to see an office as an integral part of the human condition. Hunter-gathers were exposed to fewer people, and I see no reason to think that an office is inherently good, from a social perspective. However, it has been a downside for me too, and I am quite lucky to have a family to come home to (well, one that comes home to me). Nevertheless, I know that some people don’t interact with many people outside of work. And no amount of virtual meetings makes up for face-to-face interactions.
I, however, see that more as a cultural issue, similar to the disappearance of the so-called third place. However, one has to ask whether it’s the role of jobs to fill these needs and whether a more flexible work-life balance, coupled with less time spent commuting, might free up resources to choose other social settings. I’ve seen people have much more time and energy for hobbies and meet-ups. Especially if you are an introvert, prioritizing where to spend your energy is life-changing.
I have a few fully remote friends who, sadly, live quite far away. Nonetheless, we have, on multiple occasions, met and simply worked from the same location - an opportunity to reflect on practices, network, and knowledge share. I’ve even done short vacations where we were able to work during the day and do fun stuff in the evening. It’s great.
If you have the urge to socialize, another option is to get a desk at a communal office. I did this when we lived in a smaller apartment because the price was well worth the benefits and opportunities.
You might think: Well Casper - why the hell is remote-first a good idea if your motivation FOR remote-first is to go to ANOTHER office building?
I do see the irony, but it touches the most crucial point…
The value of freedom
The great thing about remote-first is that it doesn’t needlessly force socializing if pricy it still enables extroverts to socialize.
Everyone isn’t the same. Some are energized by constant socializing. Others are exhausted. Some do their best work, while others do their worst. Some have families with special needs where an office is impractical. Others might prefer living in the countryside. Having a society optimized for extroverted city dwellers seems… dumb.
Freedom is much more than choosing to work alone or with others; It’s also where to work from, and (potentially) when. Some are most productive in the morning. Others in the evening. When I was fully on-prem, our whole team was only truly colocated between 10:00 and 13:00.
Multiple coworkers travel the world while working. Others found their corner of paradise in a remote place in the world, hooked up to a satellite internet connection. It doesn’t impact our productivity much; on the contrary, that each person on the team thrives in their optimal setting ensures that we are at our best, and the output of our work shows.
Certain activities and certain jobs are rather difficult to do remotely. I am not expecting nurses to be working remotely anytime soon. But if there isn’t an inherent reason to be on-prem... then why enforce it?
Enforced on-prem is associated with a variety of accepted costs to the environment, and resources; monetary, natural, and human. I am not saying that remote doesn’t come with potential challenges, nor that I have solutions for all of them; We have to adjust and find new solutions. Even then, we might still face drawbacks.
There is no silver bullet. I am merely advocating trust; that each person knows where and how they do their best work, encouraging them to choose for themselves, rather than it being enforced one way or the other.
What I’ve been reading this week:
I use the term introvert, throughout the post, to denote people are to a bigger extent exhausted than energized by social interactions broadly speaking, while aware that it’s a broad generalization, and aware that it naturally depends on context and is probably more a spectrum, and might change throughout ones life.
A quick search gave many interesting hits:
https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/post/is-extreme-collaboration-remotely-possible
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2023/07/03/how-remote-work-can-impact-employees-mental-health/?sh=700949662cf0
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220616-is-remote-work-worse-for-wellbeing-than-people-think