A couple of months ago, the New York Times published an opinion piece entitled, “Are You Sure You Want to Go Back to the Office?*” The article detailed the return to work in a post-Covid world, specifically the flexibility at which employees will be able to better manage their work-life balance.
Since Covid-19 reared its ugly head nearly a year ago, this isn’t necessarily a new concept. Most companies and employees can feel the traditional model of work breaking apart, making room for a new, more dynamic way of working. One aspect of the piece that separated itself from a lot of the other “future of work due to Covid” trends was that people miss what they once had, but that will fade quickly when normal life resumes.
For a good number of people, not only have they been stuck inside working, but they’ve been given a crash course in digital learning for their kids, maintaining common household chores, and other activities that add to the monotony of living through a pandemic. Because of this, they’re equating going back to the office with freedom — but what they’re really missing is the social aspect of work.
But people don’t really want to go back to the office. They want to get out of their apartments, their houses, their parents’ houses. They want their children back in school, and also out of the house. They want to see people’s faces again, and have conversations with people who are closer than six feet from them. But that doesn’t mean that they actually want to be back in the office — at least not the way the office was before. (Peterson, New York Times)
…The old annoyances will arrive right on schedule. The commute will still be long; there will still be too many meetings and time-sucks; it’ll still feel like a mad rush to get out the door in the morning or get dinner on the table at night. The question will present itself: Why, again, do we insist on traveling to an office every day? (Peterson, New York Times)
Since its inception more than a decade ago, WillDom has had a balanced approach to remote and on-location work. We think, as great wines, the best combinations are blends; not 100% remotely, nor in an office setting. By having an office space in every country we operate in, we provide a space that serves our developers’ needs, not the other way around. In order to build meaningful relationships, face-to-face interaction is very important, especially when you are part of the same Team.
We’ve always believed that work-life isn’t either/or, but “and.” Our value proposition to our Teams are based on three pillars: great projects, great remuneration, and great flexibility, meaning each person and Team defines what the right balance between working remotely and going to the office is.
For any remote work model within an organization, it’s critical that there’s a strong social element within the community. While many of our WillDom technologists do enjoy sitting in front of a computer creating innovative, digital transformation solutions for our clients, there’s also a concentrated effort in building relationships amongst the team, no matter where in the world they are.
Here are just a few ways that we’re promoting that social interaction piece within WillDom:
- Flexible, Dev-client Schedule Arrangements: We believe that the results are key, and there are different ways to accomplish those results as there are individuals. Though most of our projects are full-time based and some overlap between the remote and on-site teams is expected, we encourage devs and clients to have the liberty of discussing the best possible schedule distribution that best fits both parties. At the end of the day, we care that the work gets done, and nothing like a satisfied collaborator to make that happen.
- Current Projects Gatherings: Going through challenging projects, our Teams gather in our offices to work on cross-innovation solutions for our clients. While we believe that there are many advantages to remote work, we also maintain that face-to-face collaboration among Team members results in greater client success.
- Remote Devs Hacks: Physical / virtual events where Remote Devs “pain points” are tackled, and the experience in our community is shared to promote our core cross-learning values. These knowledge-sharing events provide a catalogue of learnings, and help our community become more connected and strategic with current and future projects.
- Organizing & Sponsoring Tech Meetups, Both Physically and Virtually: We believe it’s important to create an environment that promotes continued learning and networking with other like-minded industry professionals, enhancing the unity of our ecosystem as well as broadening our community’s circle.
As the world begins to open back up, hopefully sooner rather than later, we anticipate seeing more of this blended physical and digital approach towards work. The traditional 9–5 workday model is finally evolving, and are excited to lead the charge in helping companies and technologists understand how they can approach work with greater freedom and flexibility.
Interested in learning more about the future of work, and how WillDom supports a remote + office approach? We invite you to visit our website or contact a WillDom rep at hey@willdom.com for further information on how to get started with us today!
*Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/23/opinion/covid-offices-remote-work.html
#softwareengineering #engineering #developer #software #agileteams #willdom #remotework
