Remote workers have had a rough ride in recent years. Bombarded with threats of RTO mandates and claims that they’re ‘lazy’ and ‘unproductive’ compared to in-office workers, it’s safe to say the guilt-tripping has been unbearable.
Each individual worker’s experience with remote or hybrid practices differs greatly. Some workers are content with returning to the commute and the – admittedly valuable – human interaction and opportunity to collaborate. Others just want to get on with their work and find this works best from home.
When the world was plunged into remote work during the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, I was utterly dejected at the thought of being stuck in my spare room in a block of flats. It’s that which spurred the motivation to buy a house with a garden.
Microsoft Teams helped keep things going, but that quickly became frustrating and I have to admit I yearned for in-person interaction. That’s where the creative juices flowed with my former colleagues and the benefits of team camaraderie on general morale cannot be overstated.
Working from home felt ‘lazy’, ‘unproductive’, and monotonous. Wake up, sit down and work, handle the nonstop Teams notifications, finish for the day, likely play video games, sleep, repeat. It’s here that my productivity undoubtedly dipped. The buzz of the office wasn’t there and the satisfaction of knowing I’d had a good day at work was gone.
In hindsight, though, I was typically working longer hours than before with fewer breaks. The reality was that I’d been programmed to believe that to be truly productive, one had to be in the office. Perhaps I was too hard on myself, for the circumstances were extreme. The world was in a state of lockdown and the prospect of going into the office and thereby putting myself or loved ones at risk was anxiety-inducing.
More than anything, though, it was the fact that remote work was forced upon us which made it worse. We had no decision in the matter but we all did our bit in whatever way we could. I know: a very white-collar mindset, to complain about the luxury of staying home during lockdown, but experiences are subjective.
Taking the plunge back into remote work
When the chance to return to a hybrid work pattern became possible, there was a huge sense of relief. Back to the office and to a degree of normality, with a day or two at home to reduce the grind of the commute. So in late 2022, when I had the opportunity to join ITPro, I must admit the prospect of taking the plunge back into full-time remote work was daunting. Going back to a working pattern that I knew I had struggled with was troubling, as was the geographic reality of things.
Based in Edinburgh, with a team largely located in the south of England – with the exception of the ‘northern’ staff in Manchester and Newcastle – I was concerned about the potential isolation. Luckily for me, the team is highly collaborative and communicative. The frequent daily interactions, albeit in a remote capacity, help take the edge off things and there’s nothing to suggest our work rate or output is negatively impacted by remote operations.
Team synergy is just one aspect of the equation here: the real challenge is actually remaining productive on an individual level. There’s no doubt that full-time remote work requires self-control and discipline, especially in a world where attention-sucking apps are always lurking in your pocket.
Remote work requires boundaries
Setting boundaries and maintaining regular working hours, in my experience, have been the key to productive remote working. The temptation to start earlier than required and work later is tantalizing – especially if your workloads are heavy. This is a surefire way to increase your risk of burnout and it’s something I failed to address during my first foray into remote work in 2020.
A report from Protime in 2024 found that two-thirds (67%) of employees struggle to fully ‘switch off’ from work and frequently check emails or work after hours. This is an issue across the board and not unique to remote workers but given my home environment is also my work environment, setting lines in the sand on this matter has been crucial.
Having a space dedicated to work has been helpful here, as it allows you to separate your ‘living’ space from ‘work’ space. Working from the couch will do you no favors in terms of productivity – and lead to back issues, in my experience. Scheduling my day is another big focus. Going into the working day with a slapdash approach is guaranteed to have me bouncing around various tasks and responsibilities and ultimately have me tied up in knots.
There are apps to assist you with this, but I’m old-fashioned and cut my days into specific sections based on the priority of certain tasks. The morning news content rush is very much an eyes-down affair, but dividing my time up and sticking to this routine certainly has helped maximize time.
Remote workers are depicted unfairly
Across 2024, ITPro covered a myriad of stories on controversial RTO mandates implemented by big tech firms and the inevitable pushback from staff. A common recurring tone always emerges when industry executives wax lyrical about returning to the office: patronization. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt caused quite the ruckus, for example, when he attributed Google’s lax performance in the generative AI race to remote working practices.
The reality is that many high-performing companies remained precisely that during the switch to fully remote operations at the onset of the pandemic. Many conveniently forget the record-breaking profits they posted during that period.
Business leaders hellbent on returning to the glory days of the pre-pandemic grind come across as patronizing, overbearing teachers pontificating to a classroom full of students.
Your workers are adults, and capable of remaining productive while working remotely. They don’t need their hand held throughout their working day, and if success truly rests on that in-person ‘synergy’ and watercooler chats, then perhaps there are deeper issues at play in your organization.
