A couple of years ago, virtual meetings were very much possible. In most settings, the logical way of engaging was however still to set up face-to-face meetings. Here and there two boardrooms would be connected via a big screen video conference facility, whilst coffee areas, breakout spaces, voice calls, emails and increasingly, text messages, would be used for quick chats.
Even for more technical workers, with laptops and remote connections, the norm was to go into the office each day, despite the fact that they might very well be doing most of their day job by themselves.
Then, pretty much overnight, all of this changed. It is thus only natural that there would be expected and unexpected downsides. New challenges that we have not really faced before.
Boundaries need to be actively managed
In a face-to-face only world, you would wake up and have some time in the morning with no direct work engagement. During your travels to and from work, you would also be limited to thoughts of work, generally without access to doing work or discussing work with colleagues. Where a culture of lunch and tea breaks exist, those might very well be spent away from work matters. Once you get home, you would also be left up to outside of work activities.
With laptops and remote access, it became possible to do work at home, before going into the office, or after leaving. Access to work email and chat increasingly makes it easier to continue work during your commute, as you're in bed, in the loo, or anywhere really.
When you're actually working from home, operating from bed or the kitchen table only works for so long, before it just makes sense to set up a proper working environment, with a comfortable table, chair and limited interruption from the happenings around the house. In the absence of having to travel, there is suddenly loads of time to add a few meetings and tasks at the beginning and end of the day. Before you know it, that first item on the agenda starts a little bit earlier, and that last work discussion carries on later into the evening.
Saying yes to that first break of dawn or late night meeting, makes it more intuitive to say yes to the next, and then increasingly this becomes the norm, making you the difficult one if you were to object. Without clear cut boundaries, each individual needs to take it upon themselves to raise their concerns about this shift in work-life balance. Ultimately the culture of the organisation determines where these trends are going to end up. Culture is made up of individuals. As a collective, talking openly about setting boundaries proactively, is much better than waiting for mass burnout or resignations to force policy changes.
Relationships and networks require time
When you have been with an organisation for a while, it is easy to take the relationships you have built up over time for granted.
Sitting next to other people, day after day, allows many small opportunities throughout each day for getting to know each other. Having lunch together provides further rich opportunities to explore interests outside of work, or even just ample time to unpack work projects in a more relaxed and open setting.
Wider than that, even just walking past somebody in the corridor, sharing a quick exchange at the water cooler or coffee stop, or ending up next to each other waiting for a meeting to start, all offer an abundance of opportunities for connection.
Abruptly moving to operating from home alone, has eliminated all of these 'organic' touch points. Without relationships, it can start to feel like you're working with a bunch of strangers and getting assistance from or cooperating with a stranger can be way more difficult than reaching out to a friend.
In a remote world we need to find new ways to bump into each other.
Out of sight, out of mind
I do not necessarily believe it is important to be seen working. Clocking in early and out late, or sitting at your workstation for hours on end, is an outdated idea of productivity. In some settings it might still be valued or even expected, but I believe generally that kind of thinking should be discouraged.
Similarly, when working remotely, for me it is not about showcasing long hours. Sending or responding to emails at all hours of the day should mostly not be the aim.
When performance discussions do come around, it is however critical that those discussing your ratings do firstly know you, and secondly are aware of what you have contributed. I've already spoken about relationships. A key part of contributing is staying connected to how you can help others. Virtual meetings do offer the opportunity to listen in on and get involved in meetings you may previously not have been able to attend.
It is a new way of working
I do not know whether remote work is better or worse. It is definitely different.
Towards successfully operating remotely, there are thus nuances that we need to solve for. In my experience it is important to:
Set clear boundaries for yourself and those you work with
Make or find time to get to know your coworkers
Visibly add value to your stakeholders
As we spend more time in this new way of working, we continue to learn and develop thoughts around best practice. There are also many evolving opinions about whether remote only, back to the office, or a hybrid approach is the way to go. The last couple of years have definitely shown us that there are possibilities we never previously maybe truly believed could work.
Some have found a new rhythm to their working routine that suits them quite nicely. Others continue to struggle, yearning for things to go back to the way they were.
Certain industries, organisations or working cultures lend themselves fairly seamlessly to remote work, in other cases it has been much more of a process, leading either to a new found, maybe unexpected mojo, or a significantly uncomfortable compromise.
Being uncomfortable does not equal being wrong. Returning to the office might just be a better fit for your situation.
Without giving remote work a real go, and trying a few different things, or things differently, you would however not have explored finding what works best for you fully.