3 Work-From-Home Lessons We Should Never Forget

A few months ago, a new employee joined our company. I knew he was an incredibly focused, driven guy. Detail-oriented, precise, all-business (in a good way). What I didn’t know was that he is also a human jungle gym ... or at least his three kids seem to think so.

Mid-Zoom call this week, a giggling, tow-headed trio burst into his home office to crawl all over him. He good-naturedly rolled his eyes and tried to continue his presentation — flying kid elbows be damned. With this glimpse into his life as a parent, our relationship immediately, and incalculably, deepened.

The irony, of course, is that this humanizing moment happened on a screen. 

To be clear, I don’t think the future of work is 100-percent remote. Nothing can beat in-person, and lots of us are realizing that now. But here’s the thing, the experience of working remotely — of NOT being in person — has had the unexpected consequence of more fully humanizing the people we work with. And that’s a really good thing. 

As we slowly return to our offices in the months ahead, we’ve got an opportunity to bring some of these shifts in outlook, and shifts in how we work, back with us. Here are the lessons I want to remember and what I hope doesn’t go back to business-as-usual. 

Being in-person matters. Let’s make the most of it 

This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced WFH. After my previous company was acquired by IBM, I worked remotely for five years. I thought I handled it well, but then I landed a new job back in an office. A week later (and I’ll never forget this), my wife turned to me and said, “We’re so glad we got the old Chris back.” 

COVID-19 has shown us the power of remote working tools. It’s been invaluable in helping so many businesses keep the lights on. My company has always been flexible in this regard and, whenever Boston is cleared to work again, we’ll be sure to integrate not only additional technology but the many lessons learned from this period of time.

But we’re not about to eliminate face time all together. There’s a reason why even the biggest tech companies in the world, who have every remote tool at their disposal, prefer to have employees in office. Google’s HR research has pegged the ideal amount of work-from-home time at 1.5 days a week, to maximize those in-person “moments of serendipity.”

There’s tremendous value in real human interaction, from both a professional and basic-human-need perspective. Creativity and innovation suffer, as does team cohesion, when we’re not together. 

This absolutely mirrors my own experience. I know I feed off the energy of other people. But even deeper than that, I find working with others has a leveling effect — the way colleagues can raise you up on dark days, and even act as a brake when you get too high on an idea or impulse. No Zoom call can really replicate that. For all those reasons, I can’t wait to get back in the office and, more than that, to make the most of my time with the people there.  

Your rowdy kids and tacky loveseat are a reminder of our shared humanity

I’ve always prided myself on knowing my colleagues as people … then I got a streaming, real-time camera into their lives. I now know the names of your cats, your taste in furniture, what kind of art you have on your walls. Not only do these details round people out, but they’re also a reminder that there’s a deeper life behind the work facade — the messy stuff we all knew was there, but traditionally agreed to overlook from nine-to-five. 

Early on in our WFH days, one co-worker’s son ran into a Zoom meeting and screamed into the camera. The guy was mortified and sent an effusive apology letter afterward. For me, this was a wake-up call. Why should he be apologizing for having his real life seep into work, at a time when we’re all adjusting? But deeper still, why do we have to pretend that life and work never mingle? This should have been obvious all along, but now it’s totally in our faces: we all bring stuff to work besides work, pandemic or no pandemic. Ignoring that is never a great approach. 

One recent personal example: I was upset to learn that my son’s prom and graduation had to be cancelled. According to the old rules (which I’ve never really believed in, anyway), I should have been this stalwart, rock of a CEO and not even acknowledged my bad mood with my team. Instead, I shared my frustration, and even ended up tearing up. But it was only by clearing that emotion that I was able to bring more focus — and more of me — to the table.  

We didn’t ask for it, but we’ve all had to get radically vulnerable and open with each other. And personally, I’m wondering how we can keep those walls down and bring our whole selves to work once we’re out of our homes again. 

There are more important things than work — duh

This crisis got us back to appreciating the basics: a roof over our head, food on the table, being thankful for good health. So the question now is how can those lessons be applied in the workplace, in terms of not sweating the small stuff? 

I think that means avoiding diving back into “hustle culture.” As much as we all say we want work-life balance, we’ve probably put work over relationships at one point or another, and maybe some of us more than we want to admit. Before joining my current company, I was lucky enough to take a DIY sabbatical. With it came a renewed perspective on what I really valued: work, of course; but, time with family and friends brought me true meaning and joy. With the pandemic, we’ve all been forced to slow down, recalibrate and rediscover what really matters, namely, family, friends and human connection. 

That means extending that kind of next-level understanding to customers, too. We’ve always been a relationship-driven company. In the past few months, we’ve seen up close the challenges of the property managers we work with, folks at the frontline of the economic crisis. Sustaining that deepened commitment and connection to them, not to mention the community and city we work in, is one legacy I’d love to carry forward.  

I’d like to think all of this adds up to something deeper, something that will stick with us. Tens of millions of people and countless businesses have been brought to their knees. Yet we’ve seen people rally together, too, in new and inspiring ways, from rounds of applause for first responders to neighbors offering to pick up groceries for each other. 

We live in a shared web of human connection. And business — the way we work, who we do business with, how we treat customers — is as integral a part of that web as any other. We’ve always known this, I think. But it’s been brought into stark relief by the crisis, and I hope it’s something we can carry with us longer after it’s over.

This article was originally featured in Business Insider. Stay up to date with my latest by clicking the "Follow" button above or follow me on Twitter.