Working from home with The Good Box.

Top 3 Problems & How to Fix Them 

Armpit-scented commutes, queues for the microwave, and that colleague who thinks their screen somehow absorbs all the noise they make on the phone – all these and so much more are being happily consigned to history as people across the world embrace home working like never before. Without a doubt, working from home has the potential to be a fantastic way to earn your salary. It also has the potential to be a real pain too, for workers and their employers alike. 

Problem 1: The Cost 

If you used to travel into the office each day on your preposterously expensive season ticket, working from home this past year will have saved you a packet. But for the millions of people who normally commute by bus, bike, or even private car, savings can be harder to find. Spending upwards of 40 hours a week in an office means your employer has the privilege to keep you supplied with light, heating, electricity, loo roll, soap, (and unless you work for an extremely tight bastard) tea, coffee, milk, fruit, etc, etc, etc.  

Now that you’re perpetually housebound, the cost of all those things now rests solely with you. Especially for younger professionals who may find themselves working at home alongside housemates, the magnitude of those costs shouldn’t be dismissed. 

Solution – The Good Box, launching their pilot later this week, is an innovative new subscription service offering automatic monthly deliveries of sustainable, ethical household consumables. And the best bit? The Good Box is only available as part of a workplace scheme, where your employer stumps up to contribute towards the costs. So whilst you might not be enjoying a coffee from the office Nespresso, your boss can still chip in towards the cost of some ethically-sourced filter coffee at home. 

 Problem 2: The Environment 

I know, I know; we’re still in the midst of the current threat to humanity’s survival, do I really need to start on about the next one?! Well, yes, in a word.  

For progressive, responsible companies, an office environment is one whose impact on the environment can be relatively easily mitigated. Corporate paper recycling schemes, solar panels on the roof, water-saving flushes, and sustainable paper in the loos; historically your employer could be fairly comfortable that they were taken meaningful steps to prevent the office from doing too much damage to the environment. 

But, now that the workforce is scattered across dozens of private homes, your company has suddenly lost all of its eco-friendly options. You and your colleagues could all be sitting around at home with the heating on full blast and the windows open while you throw litter absent-mindedly into the street. Your employer can’t do anything about it, but customers are still going to react badly to a business that does such harm to the world around us. 

Solution – The Good Box gives employers an innovative, effective way to retain their sustainability credentials, even with the office shut. Setting up a Good Box Scheme gives employers the chance to contribute towards the cost of a range of top-notch, practical products every one of which has been thoroughly assessed to check that it does real good in the world. By putting their money where their mouth is, employers are able to make the good choice the cheapest and easiest option too, to the point that their home-working teams could become actively regenerative (making the world a better place simply by working). 

Problem 3 – Shared Experience 

Everyone is talking about isolation these days, and it certainly is an issue. What I’m touching on here is subtly different though. There is great value to team motivation and morale in shared workplace experiences. In the same way that families are brought closer together by experiencing things as a group, teams of employees who can reminisce about what Bert was caught doing at the Christmas Party are more engaged in their work, and more motivated to stick with their employer and team. 

Now, even the most rudimentary things we all used to have in common (the knack to lock the front door, the cold corner of the meeting room to avoid, the dreadful art the boss thinks is edgy) are gone. Without opportunities to share things with colleagues, it is inevitable that teams become more distant and less cohesive. 

Solution – The Good Box offers the opportunity for whole companies of colleagues to share some simple daily experiences again. Whether it’s the tasty new variety of healthy snack that’s just been added, or collective wonder at just how many times a piece of bamboo kitchen roll can be reused, knowing that you’re using products that are also being used by everyone you work with has a remarkably profound impact on how together we all feel. 

If you’d like more information on The Good Box, or to find out how you can bag one of the last remaining places in our pilot launch this month, please leave a comment or drop me a DM and I’d be delighted to share more!