Remote Work versus Traditional Face-to-Face Jobs

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Remote Work versus Traditional Face-to-Face Jobs

Introduction

According to Owl Labs research, approximately 50% of employees work from home once a week and a third works full time remotely. Remote work gained significant popularity in 2020 as more people had to work from home and quarantine to curb the spread of the virus. Ever since there has been an exponential increase in the number of remote employees, positive results have led institutions to permanently consider remote work for their employees. Many organizations have shifted systems and tools to facilitate remote working because of the pandemic for the first time. This is a significant adjustment for both employers and employees. 77% of remote employees report increased productivity because they have less distraction. Remote working refers to an individual working in any other place rather than the traditional office environment. Remote workers include people that work from home, cafes, and co-working spaces. Additionally, remote workers entail people who work remotely but are on a flexible schedule and show up in the office every once in a while. The distinctions in remote work have also given rise to terms such as telecommuting and flex work. GitLab is an open core organization that develops software for software development lifecycle with over 30 million registered users, 1 million active licensed users, and a community of over 2500 contributors.

GitLab provides a platform to empower institutions to maximize returns on software development by delivering software efficiently and faster while strengthening compliance and security. The purpose of this text is to dissect the experience of an all-remote job and compare it with a traditionally face-to-face job.

Differences between an All-Remote Job at GitLab and a Face-to-Face Job

The experience of working remotely differs from the experience of working in a traditionally face-to-face job differs in terms of productivity, financial costs and flexibility. An individual that works an all-remote job at GitLab is more productive than an individual working in an office set-up. According to research conducted by UC Irvine, an ordinary office worker gets interrupted from their work every 11 seconds (Orsini & Rodrigues, 2020). To make the matter worse, it takes about 25 minutes for a person to get back to their task following an interruption. Distractions are a huge setback for employee productivity. On the other hand, the nature of remote work does not encourage small talk among colleagues. Although remote workers might get distracted by other things such as their phones or televisions and music, they are still more consistent and productive than their office-bound counterparts. In terms of financial costs, people who work remotely have fewer expenses than those in an office. A person holding an office job has to foot commuting costs. If they are driving, they will have to pay for gas or a taxi or public transport. Additionally, the people that drive to work also have to part with parking fees. The individual also has to set aside money for a cup of fee or lunch during the day. These expenses tend to add up and one may find themselves spending hundreds of dollars in a month. However, an individual that works from home does not have to worry about commuting expenses, and sitting in traffic. They are also less likely to be tempted to eat out or spend money during happy hour after work. An individual working remotely at GitLab is more flexible than a person holding a traditional office job. This is because an office worker works with a tight schedule. Every day, their alarm goes off at the exact time. They then take their coffee and head out for work. By 9 am, they are already at the desk and ready to work. However, a person that works remotely does not have to follow a strict schedule. They can wake up at any time because they can tailor their day to suit their needs. If they have fewer tasks to complete on that day, they can decide to wake up at 10 am or work late in the night. Additionally, remote workers get to pick appropriate times to have lunch and when to stop working. This is contrary to office workers who have to go for lunch break at 1 pm and leave the office at 5 pm. In essence, remote workers are more flexible than office workers; they decide when to start their day, end it, and where to work.

Communication and Collaboration

Effective communication is a critical and complex ingredient for an asynchronous work environment, especially if the team members are working remotely. Because the needs of a remote team are unique, organizations must learn to understand the barriers to communication before developing a communication strategy. To facilitate communication and collaboration while working remotely, GitLab should capitalize on video calls. Video calls are effective in improving communication and performance of a remote team. Worth noting, there is a need to recognize the physical distance, affinity distance and operational distance between team members. Affinity distance is a barrier to building trust among team members. Video communication tends to be most effective in this regard. On video conference calls, team members get to see each other, bond and build familiarity which would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Another strategy that GitLab can employ is to avoid micro-managing employees. Managers need to recognize that managing teams remotely is hard because walking up to a person to see that they are handling their tasks as they should is not an option (Saarenoksa, 2021). Organizations should trust remote employees as responsible adults who can work on their own with minimal supervision. Further, employers should decide on the tools they intend to use to communicate. The tools should align with office goals. For instance, employers can choose to host game nights to get to know each other outside the office arena. Applications like Snapchat can be used to carry out internal team building. This fun and clever way to keep remote employees connected.

Meaning of Remote, not Flat

When GitLab said that they are “remote not flat,” they meant that working remotely does not have to be boring. When people hear about remote work, the first thing that comes to mind is the seclusion of working alone. Most people think that working from home is not fulfilling because one is likely to get bored because they are alone. On the contrary, this is not the case because remote workers are more productive than office workers. The most important thing is finding ways to keep them engaged to not feel bored despite being alone. One of the strategies GitLab can employ to increase their level of empowerment is including remote workers in on-site organizational events. Overlooking remote workers when planning for company events tends to make them feel undervalued. It can foster feelings of resentment and make them feel excluded. It is important to ensure remote employees take part in team-building activities, company events, and celebrations as it helps them bond with the rest of the employees. Establishing a clear working policy can also empower remote employees. It is imperative that an organization sets and communicates precise expectations to lead to employee and, by extension, employee success (Ozimek, 2020). The policy should stipulate performance expectations, work schedules, project timelines, and times off. It should also be well documented and made available to all employees. This ensures that all employees are on the same page and remain accountable for their actions.

Top-Competencies for All-Remote Jobs

Working remotely can be a huge adjustment for a person who is mostly used to working in an office environment. With the growing preference of people who want to work remotely, there is a need to tap into the set of skills required to hold such a job. As such, remote workers should possess critical in-demand skills that will make their remote working life easier. Digital literacy is one of the most important skills of a remote worker. Remote work heavily relies on digital communication. As such, remote employees should be able to evaluate, identify and generate data in digital form. A person must stay updated on current digital techniques and tools to make work efficient and save on time. Navigating technology is also critical in ensuring that the employee stays connected with clients and colleagues. Some of the tools they should be conversant with include zoom, team viewer, email use, and applications such as twitter and messaging apps such as WhatsApp. Another important skill is emotional intelligence. Working in a remote environment means that there are non-verbal cues to help a person read the mood of the colleagues. As such, emotional intelligence helps an individual to resolve conflicts, identify problems and listen to colleagues. Additionally, remote workers should be self-motivated. There is no manager to check whether you are doing your duties hence remote workers should have a schedule to keep them focused on important tasks and get rid of distractions.

Challenges in Attracting, Motivating and Retaining Remote Employees

One of the main challenges in attracting, motivating, and retaining employees is creating flexible working schedules. Flexible work arrangements are one of the ways to attract employees and retain them. Just like in an office set-up, employees need to have a comfortable working space. Managers are not present to monitor them but they should trust them enough to offer them flexible working hours because it leads to a healthy work-life balance. Another challenge is not giving employees opportunities for learning and development. Employees are likely to quit their job if it does not expose them to learning opportunities. Learning is an ongoing process that makes employees understand that they play a significant role in their success and growth (Zou, Zhao, & Siau, 2020). Additionally, low salaries and benefits can pose a challenge to the hiring and retention of employees. This is because employees are motivated by money, and for them to take up a job, it should be competitive enough to make the individual want to keep working for the company.

Conclusion

In closing, remote working and traditional office jobs work for different people. While some people prefer to work remotely, others prefer working from an office set-up. Each style has its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. Recent research posits that individuals who work from home are more productive than those who work from an office environment. Office workers are likely to face distractions from colleagues, which limits their productivity. Remote working differs from traditional face-to-face jobs in terms of productivity, financial costs and flexibility. While remote workers can wake up and stop working at any time they see fit, office workers observe strict schedules. In future, before deciding the kind of job one wants to take up, they should do extensive research and compare the benefits and disadvantages of remote working and office jobs. Organizations that are yet to consider remote working also need to consider it because, without a doubt, it is the future of companies.

References

Orsini, C., & Rodrigues, V. (2020). Supporting motivation in teams working remotely: The role of basic psychological needs. Medical teacher, 42(7), 828-829.

Ozimek, A. (2020). The future of remote work. Available at SSRN 3638597.

Saarenoksa, M. (2021). The impact of flexible working on productivity and job satisfaction: case future of work in agile R&D.

Zou, C., Zhao, W., & Siau, K. (2020). COVID-19 calls for remote reskilling and retraining. Cutter Bus. Technol. J, 33(7), 21-25.