Office vs. Home: The Ultimate Debate
The Big Question
Should companies entice employees back to the office with perks like a designated 'mood manager,' stocked fridges, and engaging activities? Or should they adopt a hybrid model, allowing employees to balance working from home and office days to enjoy the best of both worlds?
Expert Insight
Leif Denti, a psychology researcher at the University of Gothenburg specializing in innovation, office design, and remote work, believes there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. However, he offers a practical guideline:- Work from Home: Ideal for tasks requiring focus and minimal distractions. Short online meetings can complement this setup.
- Office Work: Crucial for tackling complex problems and fostering creative solutions through in-person collaboration.
The Value of Spontaneous Interactions
When working exclusively from home, we miss out on the informal, spontaneous conversations that happen in office settings, like those around the coffee machine. These casual interactions can spark creativity and foster a sense of community.
Creating a 'virtual coffee room' might help, but it requires extra effort and isn't commonly practiced. Most people prefer to focus on their tasks instead.
Digital Meetings vs. In-Person Meetings
Digital meetings lack the depth of face-to-face interactions. They miss out on body language cues and subtle signals, which can negatively impact communication. In the office, post-meeting discussions over coffee can lead to important ideas that might not emerge in a formal digital meeting.
Building Company Culture
After a digital meeting, we often just shut down, unlike in the office where we might grab a coffee afterwards and continue discussing. It's in these moments, far from the formal meeting, that many important thoughts and ideas can come up - things that may not have been mentioned or ideas someone wasn't brave enough to share during the actual meeting.
Another challenge of remote work that is often highlighted is that it becomes difficult to build a strong company culture and sense of community.
- It is harder to build strong relationships with colleagues if you don't meet regularly. Sure, you can build relationships online, but it's often easier and more effective face to face. Junior employees often prefer to be in the office more than senior counterparts, perhaps because they seek valuable knowledge from more experienced colleagues.
Finding the right balance
Studies suggest that working from home up to 2.5 days a week offers a good balance, allowing for control over personal time while maintaining a connection to the workplace. More time at home can lead to feelings of isolation and detachment from work.
While there's no set formula for how - and where - companies and employees should best structure their work, studies show positive effects of working from home up to 2.5 days a week. It gives us more control over our lives and helps with the balance between work and leisure: No more commuting means you can use that time to take care of things at home or simplifying the task of picking up and dropping off children easier.
If you work from home more than that, the disadvantages can start to outweigh the benefits: it becomes harder to keep track of what's happening at work and what's important at that moment. If you lose that feeling, work can feel less rewarding over time, and you can feel isolated.
As Leif Denti sees it, the current working life is characterised by a search for the best working methods.
- Change and innovation are timeless subjects. But they are also difficult questions. Eventually, we will find the solution. I'm not worried about that.
How do you think that solution could look?
Leif Denti envisions that within five to ten years, we'll develop models suited to various types of companies. Remote work might be more effective for some, like software companies, while others may require more in-person interaction. Understanding how remote work affects productivity and employee well-being will help in creating effective work strategies.