The pros and cons of working across time zones

In the office, it’s so easy to approach any colleague whenever you want to discuss something in person. Another key advantage of working remotely is that you can save more money each year. Not commuting to work means that you can save a significant amount of time.

Without a physical office, you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars in rent per year, buy and maintain office technology and furniture, pay for Wi-Fi and more. In 2015, it was estimated that almost 45% of US employees worked remotely, mostly from home. By 2020, it is estimated that about 50% of the workforce will be working remotely. Cloud services, mobile platforms and videoconferencing have made remote work possible and very acceptable to both employees and employers.

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Although the business trends of today might give the impression that remote work is the absolute best solution for every company, the tradition of working within an office space still has its share of merits. Overworking
Without the enforced parameters of office hours, many work from home employees work a lot more than they do in traditional environments. In fact, many workers reported they work on weekends and say they work more hours a day working from home than they do in the office. It can be very hard to “log off,” when the line between work and home is nonexistent.

• We’ll email you 1-3 times per week—and never share your information.
• And home broadband access is generally less prevalent in Black and Hispanic residences compared to white residences, according to a PEW Research Center survey.
• Many remote workers in the past year reported increased productivity due to working from home.
• Though the pandemic may have been the catalyst for remote work for many millions of employees around the world, it’s far from the only reason to work from home.
• In the wake of anxiety-ridden lockdowns, the ability to reestablish social ties to other workers is a relief.

At the time, some businesses were already experimenting with telework and were better able to meet this challenge. But even they had difficulty scaling from a handful of employees with remote work privileges to an entire workforce. The tendency to take coffee breaks or get interrupted is far lesser at home. There are fewer distractions like watercooler chats, and since a remote job may offer flexible work hours, employees can meet deadlines feeling relaxed. When teams work remotely, there are fewer chances of employees talking to each other about random day to day things over lunch or coffee break.

You can choose where to live because you’re not tied to a city or region.

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon believes that remote work should not be the new normal, urging employees to return to the office to collaborate on ideas. Although remote work allows you to work from virtually anywhere, it does take more effort to get out of your comfort zone. If you use your computer for work, you may not have access to a laptop to bring to a local cafe or coffee shop. Setting up your office at home requires space and materials that you may not have access to.

It’s the one app that comes up in nearly every discussion of how to make remote teams work. Even reporters from The New York Times have found that Slack helps them stay connected to their newsroom while away on assignments. If you have a large distributed team, you might not need to try so hard to stay connected. “Since there are people working from nearly every time zone in the world, there was always someone online to help with a problem or joke around with when you’re working,” he wrote in his book. If you’re always waiting for someone to tell you what to do next, and that someone’s asleep while you’re working, you’ll never get anything done. That’s why the most crucial part of building a remote team is hiring self-directed workers—”managers of one,” as the Basecamp team calls them in their book Rework.

Work/life balance

Creative tasks and brainstorming sessions can be less efficient if some team members attend scheduled meetings online while others sit in the same room. Again, this will not be an issue for everyone but it is a valid risk that needs to be acknowledged and dealt with. This downside of remote work is arguable and won’t apply how companies benefit when employees work remotely to everyone. But nonetheless, some people have a lower motivation to go through their job tasks when they are at home and feel detached from the rest of the company. Having to find a quiet and comfortable place to work at home is a struggle if you don’t leave alone or if have a tiny place that is not designed for working.

• When you work at home and have no plans, it’s easy to just think “okay, I’ll work longer hours because I have nothing better to do in any case”.
• By entering into a sudden work-from-home situation with the right mindset—knowing you may actually be putting in more effort than before—you can do a great job and enjoy the benefits that go along with it.
• At home, you can have more control over the environmental impact of your office.
• Schedule a virtual coffee with a coworker or join a Slack community to socialize with other people who share similar interests as you.

Remote employees also tend to be happier than office workers, making them good advocates for the company. Reflecting on the impacts of the pandemic on today’s workforce, this white paper explains the most critical trends in management and how you can improve processes in your company. If you work remotely and have your own office space you can personalize it to reflect your personality. You can put up as many pictures of your kids and animals as you wish, to create an inspiring workspace. This is all about making your work area totally yours, with your favorite plants or your prized baseball cap collection.

Increased flexibility in schedule

For some, working from home means peace and quiet as well as freedom from distractions. However, some remote workers may have children, dogs, and other things to cater to at home that can make remote work a lot more difficult. Communicating with managers and coworkers isn’t the same when conducted through a screen. Although video conferencing can help bridge the gap between social isolation and interaction, in-person interactions are few and far between when working from home. Regardless of what your work model looks like, there are several pros and cons to working from home. Read on to evaluate whether the benefits outweigh the costs for you and your career or jump to our infographic.

• You’ll find everything you need from troubleshooting technical issues to setting up your admin space.
• An improvement in productivity due to remote work is also a major benefit for employers.
• If you choose to switch to a partially remote, hybrid work model, your workspace can also be optimized accordingly.
• On the contrary, remote employees, especially those enjoying flexible work, get more freedom to create their own schedule.
• You take 50 steps, and you are at the office; you do not walk to meetings.
• As long as the time you’re working doesn’t affect your colleagues and you meet deadlines then you can work when you wish.