5 Reasons to Love Remote Work

We’re happier, more productive and cheaper to hire. So what’s the problem?

Before the pandemic, just 5% of us were working from home. Today, almost everyone has, and companies like Twitter and Facebook believe remote work is here to stay.

But is it really? What if we all build up herd immunity against Covid-19, or a brilliant new vaccine comes along and vanquishes it forever. Won’t we drift back to the office and the old way of doing things.

Maybe not. This time it really might be different.

Here are 5 reasons why work will change forever — and 1 reason why it won’t.

Remote work makes us happy

A survey of 2,500 remote workers found an overwhelming 99% wouldn’t go back to a 9–5 office job. They liked the flexible schedules, the freedom to work from different locations and all that extra time with family.

This ties in with what people want from their jobs. Nine in 10 of us would choose a job that gives their life meaning over one that pays more.

We’re More Productive

Happy workers are productive workers. The numbers don’t lie. Remote employees work 1.4 more days a month than office workers. That’s an extra 17 days a year.

And this adds up to money. A Harvard Business Review study estimates a satisfied employee can generate an additional $12,900 of revenue annually.

And for companies who remain worried about remote employees binging on Netflix, there’s a wide range of platforms that track time and productivity including Hubstaff, Asana and Toggl.

It’s Cheaper

The typical remote worker saves themselves $5,700 a year. Yep, that’s what we’re spending on long commutes, an office wardrobe, car insurance and meals in the city.

But there are other less obvious savings as well. The prospect of an early wake-up call for an hour-long trip to a drearily familiar office means that about 38% of sick days are fabricated. An average sick day costs a company $190.

There’s also a flip-side to absenteeism. Called presenteeism, it refers to people going to work while ill, and then underperforming and infecting other people in the office.

What’s the cost of sick people going to work?

It’s ten times more than the cost of non-sick people staying home.

We’re More Creative (Sometimes)

There’s an important distinction between working at home and working remotely. Working from home can share the same obstacles to creativity as working in an office — ie, the monotony and lack of stimulation in a static environment.

To work remotely is to have flexibility to log in from anywhere, so you’re always changing the scenery and increasing your external stimulation.

You also want to have what billionaire Zappos founder Tony Hsieh calls ‘people collisions’, where mixing with different people creates fresh conversations and new ideas. It’s the principle behind co-working and WeWork.

This flexibility also means the freedom to take breaks or just walk the dog, which helped this screenwriter come up with the ending for his movie. Taking a walk has been shown to increase creative productivity by 60%.

Rise of the Introverts

An introvert is someone who draws energy from being alone. They value privacy and time to dwell on ideas. And many experience a spike in anxiety if they need to socialize.

Just ask JK Rowling.

“I was travelling back to London on my own on a crowded train, and the idea for Harry Potter simply fell into my head. (But) I didn’t have a pen that worked, and I was too shy to ask anybody … . I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, while all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn’t know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.”

Could Rowling have invented Harry in an office?

Remote or flexible work arrangements can liberate introverts — and that little introvert in most of us — to drop out of the office and find the time and space to do their best work.

So What’s the Problem?

The argument for remote work is persuasive. But it’s not for everyone.

One in 5 remote workers experience pangs of loneliness and 2 in 3 say they’ve never had a team- bonding session with colleagues.

Despite all the downsides of an office — the commuting, monotony and distractions — it can also be filled with amazing colleagues who provide a sense of belonging and shared mission.

Fortunately, progress is being made here as well, with innovative online solutions helping to bridge the emotional gaps between remote colleagues.

Less work and more play

Gamers are ahead of the curve on this. Studies have shown that multi-player video games can provide deeply immersive activity that forges strong emotional relationships.

Relationships strong enough to get married, according to Jon Lai, a San Francisco-based partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He says gaming helped turn a chance encounter in New York into a meaningful relationship — and marriage.

“We met on New Years Eve and I had to fly out two days later. We didn’t know each other that well but we started playing an online game called League of Legends. There were enough highs and lows and moments of tension and drama that we got to know each other better as we played together.”

This power to build emotional relationships online is gaining traction among companies that already have large virtual communities.

The messaging platform Slack has an app called Donut that matches strangers in the company for virtual meetings. They’re given questions to break the ice and encouraged to share virtual side-by-side photos of themselves along with funny blurbs for everyone else on the team to see.

The online collaborative whiteboard platform Miro suggests 15 get-to-know-each-other games here, while CoworkerCoffee can randomly pair employees for virtual chats over coffee.

The Future

Okay, drinking coffee with someone over Skype may not be quite the same as hugs and high-fives in a real office, but online team-building is in its infancy and improving quickly.

One technology that might break this wide open is virtual reality. Despite years of false hopes and empty promises, VR and its virtual cousin — augmented reality — are finally entering the workplace.

Startups like Mimesys and Spatial are promising to put you in the same room with colleagues for a remarkable virtual collaboration. Scan yourself to create a holographic copy, enter a virtual space with your scanned colleagues, and instead of just talking to each other, you can move around the room, gesture, smile and enjoy all the non-verbal cues we use to improve conversations and relationships.

This is just the beginning. The cultural shift to a more flexible and meaningful life is unrelenting.

So are the improvements in technology that make it possible — and inevitable.