What's the Best For Your Teams - Office or Remote?

The last couple of decades have seen the world changing rapidly thanks to the Internet and all the other changes it brings to our lives. We are seeing a new generation of workers calling themselves the digital nomads occupying co-working places and cafes. Moreover, with the recent COVID hit, companies were forced to switch to a remote work model almost overnight.

Each mode of work has its pros and cons, so let's look at them more closely.

1. Cutting Commute Time-is it a Blessing or Curse?

Let's face it: the biggest hurdle of working in an office is not the actual environment itself but the experience of getting there. A psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, submitted research that showed that commuting daily to work is a worker's single most miserable daily experience. And hey, we get it! Countless hours are spent on the road battling traffic, and the fact that most employees live far from work doesn't make the situation any better. An IWG survey based on the insights of more than 15 000 professionals from various industries in over 80 countries revealed that remote working reduced stressful commutes, which improved the workers' work-life balance. When the pandemic came, office employers got to catch a glimpse of work-life that didn't involve buses, trains, or daily car rides to and fro their respective workspaces. Their work was shifted to a remote kind of lifestyle which surprisingly increased their productivity levels. The time that was once wasted on commute times was channeled to work tasks. Employees are now able to give back the time saved on commuting back to their tasks providing potentially significant benefits to the growth of the business. In a remote setting, workers are now able to create a flexible work schedule based on their personality type and lifestyle that fits in the window where they are more active and innovative instead of sticking to a 9-5 schedule. Kapsys believes that by cutting commute, our workers get to save on transport costs, leading to greater job satisfaction, improved wellbeing, and excellent work performance in software development. And that's not all; with remote work, we get to retain the top talents to expand our pool of high-performing employees in a world that's becoming more competitive.

2. Remote Work Promotes a Better Work and Life Balance

At Kaspys, we value the work-life balance of our employees. We perceive the work-life balance as a concept of being able to split one's time between their personal and work life. The importance of a work-life balance is emphasized to reduce stress and prevent burnout in the workplace. When it comes to office jobs, work ceases to be something your employees enjoy; instead, it becomes a stressor in their lives. And if we are being honest, most of your employees can't afford to quit their jobs because of the unhealthy work environment since they rely on working as a means to survive. With the continuous rise of remote working, employees have been able to take more control over their workday, which improves their health and wellbeing. But it is much more than that. A healthy work-life balance introduces flexibility and a newfound joy in their respective roles. In our workforce, our workers operate remotely. The benefits of encouraging this work setting include a healthier and more productive workforce. At the same time, our employees get to save money that could have been used to seek medical help due to stress-related illnesses. By ensuring our employees have the time they desire to focus on their family, friends, and businesses aside from their professional setting, we get to retain talented employees who eventually become lifers.

3. Remote Work Increases Screen Time for Employees

Unfortunately, working remotely is not all sunshine and roses. Remote work comes with so much more screen time which may negatively impact employees. The amount of time one spends on their digital devices for both work purposes as well as leisure and entertainment is referred to as screen time. Sadly, too much Screen time has been reported to be the leading cause of poor mental health, depression, trouble sleeping, and anxiety. An article on Medium compared the current state of digital overload to unhealthy smoking behavior. The unprecedented rise of the use of digital devices also causes negative emotions such as aggression and irritability and significantly impacts an individual's mood. Remote work demands so much of an employee's time and effort as they rely on technology to remain productive and connected with their coworkers. Workers eventually spend scary amounts of time staring at a screen without breaks. With office work, they were able to take breaks during coffee/lunch breaks, meetings, and commute time. This opportunity to step away from screens is essential for one's physical and mental wellbeing. But remote work demands collaboration and socialization of coworkers to enhance productivity through digital communication tools. This increase is the perfect recipe for burnout and possibly, unhealthy eyes. Focusing on digital devices reduces how much an individual blinks, which causes their eyes to dry. This leads to reduced reading speed, making one's productivity slow down significantly.

4. Remote Work May Affect Teamwork Levels

Teamwork is essential in solving problems and the delegation of tasks. Remote work can lead to a lack of willingness to do assigned tasks to the best of one's ability due to the loss of morale. Remote work brings forth the challenge of belonging and collaboration morale among employees. In an office setting, it was much easier to maintain strong company culture through the business's mission, vision, and values. But now that employees are scattered all around, it's pretty easy for feelings of isolation to linger, which breed depression. With remote work, it's hard to feel like you are part of the team since you lack the opportunity to mingle and socialize on a face-to-face basis. When employees are disconnected in this manner, managing them becomes a difficult task. Even though this kind of setting encourages the use of communication and video conferencing tools, we cannot compare this sort of interaction to personal connections. However, we cannot also deny that there are ways to turn this around. By promoting trust and accountability, you can ensure everyone in the team is aware of their responsibilities. This way, it's much easier to monitor progress and analyze the results of a working team. Everyone gets to understand how their goals and roles affect the other and work to encourage the success of the business. We also recommend setting aside time for remote team fun through virtual games, online training sessions, and coffee chats over social platforms.

5. Remote Work Encourages Unified Learning And Simplifies Growth For All Teams

As a business, we cannot afford to compromise on employee training in custom software development and lean software development. A unified learning system refers to the shift of learning management styles from the traditional method to a more wholesome unified system that understands that technology and its different channels are also essential to the entire learning experience. Remote working encourages this unified learning system and amplifies growth in all operational teams. Employees have the chance to pick between a blended learning or a self-paced learning system based on their convenience. Employees can adapt to E-learning, where they'll learn and access information while undergoing virtual training via web or mobile. This eliminates the barrier of time and distance that remote work has. This way, employees can undergo training at their convenience. Employees also get to pick between various learning materials like files, documents, videos, links based on their convenience. Our employees at Kaspys benefit from this as they can easily and quickly adapt to a system due to the uniformity in the interfaces and workflows. This improves the learning experience and amplifies the growth of their skills in software development, thus encouraging career growth and employee retention. But that's not all; social communication tools allow employees to engage with one another through discussion groups. They can find and share insights and expert tips on custom software development and lean software development they found from relevant sources across the organization. A culture of unified continuous learning promotes employee morale and job satisfaction.

Conclusion

The greatest debate of the 21st century continues. Which is greater between the office and remote setting? The pros and cons of both models weigh heavily, but there is no doubt that remote work fits better in the current times. Businesses that made the shift found the remote model to be more effective. Take us, Kaspys, as the model example of a remote work setting. Kapsys is a software solutions provider that's been operating remotely since 2016. We have been able to develop software development processes and practices that help our clients strive with their software development requirements. We not only prioritize our clients' needs but also follow their businesses' values and processes to achieve maximum efficiency. We pride ourselves in our extensive experience in custom software development and lean software development that helps companies develop and launch applications to various markets worldwide