Work From Office

Work from the office as we all know refers to the work normally carried out in an office, for eg. clerical work, administrative work, or the work done in an organization. When we talk about work or business the one word that comes to our mind is office.  Office denotes a place where all business is carried out.

Traditionally speaking work was always done from the office. The office is that space at the heart of the business culture that plays a vital role in coordinating workers, collaborating team effort for group working, enhancing relationships between colleagues, creating an environment for collective innovation, and increasing productivity and well-being of the employees by creating a proper working environment.

It acts as a place where employees can share ideas, communicate with each other easily, work and grow as a team, read moods and emotions of each other, and have some informal discussions with each other, trying to find out how lucrative the ideas they plan to implement. The energy, the positive attitude towards work, and the hope to achieve something by the end of the day cannot be found while working remotely or from home. The positive vibes the people share while at work are what makes them click and that is what matters the most. 

Work from office vs Work from home

Working from home some people can balance work, personal life, and responsibilities while some find it difficult to balance home and work life. They are always on their toes trying to manage both places, doing the best that they can.

The office provides a clear place of work. The working atmosphere helps the person perform his duties properly as there are no distractions. There are fixed working hours and at the end of the day, the employees can leave. Once they leave the office their official duty is over and they can easily switch their minds focus from the office to their homes. This also helps in reducing stress. Working in the office the employees can connect as communication is easy.

While working from home there is no proper place of work. A person working from home has to find a balance between office work and work at home. There is a risk of overworking or working for long hours, this often becomes stressful.  There are a lot of distractions at home like family, pets, household chores, television, etc. Working from home the employees feel isolated and disconnected.

For employers, it is paramount to keep their employees productive and motivated. Researchers have found that 65% of the employees working from home were more productive. The reason discovered here was the relief from undertaking long tedious commutes. According to another study, an average Indian office goer has to spend 7% of his day commuting to the office. That means roughly two hours on the road every day. All this time could be essentially saved by telecommuting.

But we all know that a statistical analysis cannot be the answer to the many questions being asked about working from home. The office will continue to occupy an important place as face-to-face communication is still the most preferred method of communication. There are opportunities for networking, then the craving for active conversations, sharing a cup of coffee, or interacting during lunchtime or a break goes a long way in building relationships. Communication happens even when the employees are working remotely, but its nature differs, and so the debate goes on.

Engage employees in the office

When a person steps out of his house in search of a job or works the first thing he looks for is a proper office, or a factory, or a company, a proper decent place where he can work comfortably and earn his living. The place of work is supposed to be the most important factor when we talk about employee engagement. When there will be a proper working place only then we can discuss other factors related to work like: working environment, commitment, contribution, optimum utilization of all resources- human as well as material, achievement,  work satisfaction, loyalty, relationship, behavior, health, and happiness of the employees, etc. Only when the workplace takes care of all the above factors the management can calculate profit and assess how successful they have been.

There are a lot of advantages of working from a proper office and all these will only help employee engagement. This will help them to innovate and collaborate, share their ideas, and develop as teams. There will be better communication among them that will help them connect, be aware of their surroundings, and feel involved.

The office culture impacts an employee’s well-being at work thus ensuring more engagement as the person becomes passionate about his work. The office connects people as they meet face to face, the ‘water cooler’ conversations, these in-between spaces provide locations for colleagues to share stories and experiences, this builds social cohesion and helps to create stronger company culture. Office guarantees workplace standards; it ensures everyone has equal working conditions. The office promotes professional development; employees experience a range of situations at work. The presence of managers allows them to seek support or ask for advice or maybe discuss an idea related to a particular issue, this speeds up their professional development. 

Conclusion

Taking everything into consideration what the companies and organizations need to worry about in the times to come is that, even when the pandemic ends, the idea of “social distancing” and the fear of another health hazard will continue to loom over the minds of individuals. Work from home might be the only option left for most organizations across the globe. Then at that point, the well-being of the employees will take precedence over productivity and profit, and the focus will be on working, the place will not matter.