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Today, there is a trend that follow with same behaviour as Bring Your Own Device about where one should physically be to perform optimal.

For most of our lives it has been a custom that we all get up in the morning, get dressed, and go to the working place which often is a building somewhere away from home. Regardless what you do for a living, there is a place you are supposed to be each morning. Now as long as work is performed with tools that we can’t own ourselves we need to get somewhere to use them. But with the change in employment that is ongoing where ever more people work out of an office with a laptop the demand for a fixed workplace is reduced. The tools used is common ones that we all have at home, it’s nothing else then a software issue.

Working from home, from a coffee shop or even from the cart of a train might sound like a destructive way of handling time but let us investigate it further.

Why do we need to go to the office in the mornings?
There are numerous reasons that we go to the office. We have meetings to attend and also we need to… Well not that much else to be honest. Meetings are often called by managers (and I know this for a fact since I am a manager) that want to get a better understanding of a topic that is unclear. Another reason to call a meeting is to give information.

Let’s be honest, most meetings last to long and have to many participants. And do we actually need to be in the same place to start with to have a meeting? There are many tools on the market today to enable social interaction at a distance. There are digital whiteboards, text and audio but in most companies the spending to make this work is far from enough. Good webcams and even more important good microphones is required.

Remote work is harder to monitor
As a manager I agree that a remote worker is harder to monitor then a locally available one at a start. Both can show progress using what they deliver but how they get there is unknown. So, to work from remote demands that the responsible manager trust the employee. This must come as no surprise for anyone since it is the manager who will be held responsible for what the employee deliver. So for remote work to work it is just as important that the employee keep the manager updated on progress, problems and everything that comes in between to build on the trust needed.

How to start
The easiest to see if your workplace is open to the idea or remote work is simply to try it out. Still by trying it out one must remember that remote work is not a right or something that will work for all teams. Each team will need to show that it will not lose productivity and that all resources can handle the increase in personal responsibility needed. Each manager must in the same way show that the remote team still can be managed.

Experience
Have you worked remotely or are you thinking about trying it out? Write in the comments or send me a message with your experience!