The Three Foot Commute
One day we went from calling that extra bedroom “the spare” to “the office” and we never looked back, but perhaps we should’ve. Swapping out the bed for an Ikea desk and decorating that one wall perfectly for a Zoom meeting. On the other side of that door is your home, but here this is the office, this is work. Does that door offer enough of a buffer to flip the switch or is your family always getting the work version of you?
We don't need to spend time discussing how the remote work revolution started, but it did. We were told working from home meant keeping us safe while still getting a paycheck. It wasn’t sold as freedom, but survival. Then somewhere along the way it became an obsession. When it was time to go back to the office millions declined.
What wasn’t considered were the consequences that would come with the decision to work remotely. A 2023 MIT study shows an 18% decrease in productivity in remote employees compared to in-office employees. This comes as no surprise considering the lack of accountability when your office is a step away from your bed. Sleeping in, not brushing your teeth, and Zoom calls in your underwear. It’s all very convenient. Sure you made it to the call, all of your work is done and nobody’s getting fired. That’s not the question, the question is do you feel like waking up late is the best version of yourself? At the end of the day the external accountability and friction that the workplace provides can shape us to be better people.
Not only does the setting have an effect on this. The individuals in it, or lack thereof do as well. Remember going to school when you were younger, ready for a normal day? You get into class, everyone takes their seats, and you look over to see your friend's desk empty. Your stomach drops. When you woke up you didn’t know they’d be gone and you weren’t prepared to tackle the day without them. We have those people at the workplace too. Being around others like this improves our mental health, well-being, and personal development. When you break down the hours, math tells us that we spend around thirteen years at work. That's a lot of time to not be affected by others, or to have no effect on them.
It would be naive to think every work relationship is sunshine and rainbows. There will always be a coworker who is in a bad mood and disagrees with everything. Maybe that's why you work remotely, you had to get away from that coworker you just can't stand. Though perhaps we need the hard relationships too. Being around people we don't enjoy helps us grow more than being around people we do. It's a test, and when you pass a test you grow. That test helps us focus on controlling our emotions, and our patience. Along with patience, we get countless opportunities to practice our communication and be effective with our words. We learn to say what we mean without escalating a situation, and choose the right time to bring something up. If we’re working from home, where else are we practicing these skills?
Home is where we’re supposed to decompress from our work day, not the other way around. All of a sudden it's the same space, the room that once brought you peace now brings you anxiety. You’re on your way to the kitchen to grab a snack and glance at your laptop thinking about that thing you have to tackle Monday morning. Your kids have been waiting all week to spend time with you, but your brain is foggy. You’re there, but you're not there.
We made the decision to opt out of all the hard parts. Difficult people, commuting, accountability. We convinced ourselves it was progress. Perhaps it is, but it has an exchange rate. Comfort for Growth.
The office wasn’t perfect. But it gave us perspective, and whatever your setup looks like, pants or no pants, I hope this gets the wheels turning on what could be done better.
