November 2020 Small Business Leaders EDITION
TECHNICITY
ISSUE
# 09
Business Technology + sychronicity
Reaching the Balance
of Working Remotely and in the Office
Long before the pandemic hit , the debate of the
merits of working remotely versus being in the office was an ongoing saga in our company . Me being from the millennial generation , and my business partner and father being of the boomer generation , we found it difficult to see eye to eye . In many ways , our experiences are so different from each other . I grew up with the computer . As a preteen and teenager , a large portion of my interactions with my friends was online . Compared to those of the boomer generation , who were adults when interacting on the computer with others became a regular occurrence .
As an IT organization , we had the capabilities of working remotely far before most small businesses of our size . At the same time , being in the service industry , many of the roles in our company cannot be performed remotely . This resulted in many ( sometimes heated ) discussions on the merits of leading a team remotely and what the “ right ” balance looked like . I was open to more extended periods of working remotely while my father felt the need to be present in the office every day .
What emerged from our constant back and forth over the years was what we call “ Office Day .” Once a month , our entire team would be present in the office at the same time . We would have smaller team meetings throughout the day , and we all enjoyed breakfast and lunch together , which the company provided to the team . I would work remotely three weeks out of the month and be in the office for the entire week that coincided with Office Day . We seemed to have reached that “ right ” balance for about a year , and then COVID-19 entered the scene .
What I have learned from being forced into a longer stretch than normal of remote work and being robbed of our “ Office Days ” was just how important they are . While a lot can be accomplished remotely , there is an intangible energy created from being together in person . This energy is vital for team cohesion and happiness . Not