What is Remote Work compared to Office Work?
Office Work means a physical space where employees have to commute to on a daily basis and interact in-person.
Remote Work means you collaborate with the other employees or collaborators from any physical space like for example your own home.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Remote Work - New Trend?
Remote work has been there for a while but never was that popular. There were a lot of mixed opinions from employers whether they’d trust their employees to still do their job or be as productive as working in an office.
The dynamic quickly shifted when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. A lot of businesses had to switch to Remote Work to keep going and remain sustainable. I personally switched to Remote Work just a few months after the pandemic hit Malta, and have been working as such ever since. We didn’t have much of a choice initially as to reduce transmission, the company i worked at decided to close the offices until further notice.
Time went by and more and more companies adapted the Remote Work Trend and kept it even after the pandemic calmed down.
Is Remote Work for you?
An important factor to consider before choosing Remote Work is the environment you’ll be working in. Most remote workers just set up an office in one of the rooms of their apartment or house and keep that as their working area.
Some might struggle as the human contact and interactions are greatly reduced and not everyone can deal with that. Some just crave that human interaction in-person.
Personally it took me a while to get accustomed to Remote Work, as I missed interacting with my colleagues on a daily basis and as much as you try, a video call is not the same as having a conversation in-person.
Mental health is important to keep in mind. You have to separate your working area from the rest of your home and learn how to disconnect.
Conclusion
The fact that I don’t have to commute to an office everyday is already enough to make me choose Remote Work mostly because I live on a small island where there are as many cars as there are people and public transport is not a when but an if, traffic at peak hours can be horrible. For a 16KM commute, at peak hours it would take me around 1-1.5hours to get there.
Reference: https://businessnow.mt/major-traffic-jams-across-central-northern-parts-of-malta/
This is my own opinion of course. Working in an office has its advantages and can definitely bring you and your colleagues closer and work more as a team than Remote Work.
Before choosing either one, make sure to weigh all your options and ask yourself where you would be more comfortable.