Is remote work truly the future of work?

A week ago, I had to wrap and pack up everything from my office for the second time this year. After the long lockdown earlier this year, the second phase had started. Since I work out of a co-working space and only a handful of workforce from every company actally work from there currently, we tend to have friendly conversations when we break for lunch and coffee.

Inevitably, we discuss the current situation atleast once a day. While most of us prefer going to office to work, we are slowly beginning to see the bright side of the work-from-home experiment.

I am begining to think this is a shock we needed to explore new ways — new, more efficient ways. In a way, it's forcing companies and individuals to re-think our operations and our mindset. Like any significant change, even this will take time for us as a community to experience the benefits. And a lot of these changes and learnings will stick once the pandemic ends. So, why not make the best out of it and come out smarter?

While physical offices do provide certain social benefits, the new grand remote work experiment could lead to the discovery of more efficient ways of working. Come to think of it — we could perhaps evolve into a happier, liberated, and empowered bunch.

Looking at the bright side

We are now exposed to an unlimited pool of resources located anywhere in the world. We are longer limited by geography or government regulations. Any organization is on the lookout for skilled resources and now our playground just got bigger. Much, much bigger. All we have to do now is look a little further, hire anywhere, re-invent onboarding and everyday processes, and adopt a bunch of tools made just to help you win at remote work.

This gives us the freedom to work from anywhere, even post pandemic! You can move to any part of the world and still work on your favourite projects with your favourite teams while enjoying spending time with people you love or at places you want to explore. Be it spending a month is Scotland to experience the breathtaking countryside, staying in Paris to absorb the richness of art and literature, or just hanging out with your grandparents while getting pampered. You can work from anywhere if we can master the art of remote work.

We can also finally stop complaining about the dreadful commute to and from work. It's a wholesome deal — not having to commute to work everyday leads to more time on your hands to fit an hour of yoga, a tad extra mile on your morning run, cooking something more or something extra, finish up that blog or a book, or even get some extra sleep. That itself could be your path to a redefined life that you've wanted for a long time.

The biggest monetary benefit would be saving on real estate. Not just for corporations, but also for individuals. Companies don't have to spend on a 200 seater office when at anytime only 50 are expected to turn up. Individuals can finally stop brooding over how expensive homes are in San Fransisco or Bangalore and just live anywhere comfortable while working for anyone they enjoy working with.

When you take a step back and look at the big picture, the benefits seem to be innumerable. We just have to look for ways to embrace remote work and find tools to do it better.