Should You Keep Working From Home?
That is a question that many of us find ourselves asking ourselves on a daily basis.
For a lot of us, we are now close to six months into this work from home experience and we are starting to have enough data to understand the impact of this new work dynamic.
Research firm Humu, reported that across organizations, work has actually been more effective when employees were home one or two days a week as opposed to all at home or all at the office.
For me, I can work from home most days, but occasionally I need to get out and have a little variety in my work surrounding. To this point you see a lot of companies offering a hybrid approach, with the idea of limiting the head count on any given day.
I also have seen significant growth in my virtual staffing business, www.sonicva.com, as more and more businesses are relying on remote workers who can be productive outside a traditional office.
My home office is set up to optimize my work environment and I actually prefer it most days to going into the office. To that end I started a YouTube channel to help people adapt to this kind of hybrid work environment.
Check out this video on Setting Up Your Home Office here: https://youtu.be/YKV49oMO2GQ
LinkedIn recently posted an article on working from home and found that the majority of respondents to a survey replied that remote work allows people to be more productive when they take breaks, exercise or think in silence. Doing these at home are key.
The survey also found that employees were also happier and were less likely to quit their job when they had a hybrid option. With kids at home, this is even more significant.
Another key point from the survey… LinkedIn favors introverts. For those who are already extremely introverted, working form home might sound like paradise. Our work future might mean no more commuting, no more small talk, and hardly any in-person interaction at all. Not something extroverts would look forward to.
Because we have to keep working from home and as of this writing, it doesn't look like we will be getting back to “normal” anytime soon, we have to embrace our inner introvert, set up a home office that enables our productivity and find balance in the “new normal”.
So in my case, and in the case of my clients and all of my employees… the answer is Yes. Let’s keep working from home.
Daniel Meyer heads both Sonic Analytics and Sonic Virtual Staffing, sister companies that deliver both data analytics solutions and virtual staffing to businesses in the United States and the Philippines. With over 20 years in Big Data and Virtual Staffing, Dan is one of the most sought-after public speakers in Asia and offers big data coaching and analytics training seminars on both sides of the Pacific.
Sonic Analytics(www.sonicanalytics.com) brings big data analytics solutions like business intelligence, business dashboards and data storytelling to small and medium sized organizations looking to enhance their data-driven decision-making capabilities.
Sonic Virtual Staffing (www.sonicva.com) brings virtual staffing solutions like graphic design, social media management, bookkeeping and specialized virtual assistants for authors and professional speakers to small and medium sized organizations looking to scale on a budget and looking for 24/7 staffing options.
When not training current and future analysts, you can find Dan championing the use of analytics to empower data-driven citizenship by volunteering his expertise with schools and non-profits dedicated to evidence-based social progress.