Remote work ceased to be a utopia that many of us longed for just a couple of years ago, and became a mandatory reality for thousands of companies and employees around the world.
But how good is remote work? Will we ever cram the Polanco metro again at 8 am? Will the gorditas of metro Sevilla still there? Will our Ecobici card still be valid? Is the home office here to stay? Everything seems to indicate that it is.
Funny how often things that do us good happen only when the alternatives run out, right? That is to say, if it weren’t for the enormous level of the health emergency that we are experiencing worldwide, and the obligation to stay at home despite everything, the office work scheme would remain the same, and at least in Mexico, It would take us a few years to make working from home an almost general reality.
Of course, there are many productive sectors for whom the activities must necessarily be face-to-face; For the digital realm however, telecommuting is almost like entering the Tron CCP, a dream come true. Digital has become 100% digital!
But hey, beyond the human need that drives us to be physically close, socialize with office mates and the fortnight Friday visits to the black dog pizzas, or the craft beers; the reality is that there are very few things that telecommuting allows us to miss.
The question is, is it really good for us to work from home? Has our quality of life changed? How much time do we spend daily in front of the computer? Will we ever go back to the office?
What happens with remote work?
The home office arrived in the working life of our country without even being clear about what it was going to be about, and both its legal implications and many other details that are even currently maintained in legislation, are a good example of the capacity of employees and companies to adapt and evolve to new realities. Evolution almost always happens out of necessity.
The advantages of telework that we can immediately list are widely known:
- Economic savings: Both in transport, such as food, clothing and other things. The savings in these expenses are reflected directly in our pocket.
- Saving time: For many people, travel time to the office can represent up to 50% of the working day over the time they spend in the office. An 8-hour working day plus 4 hours of transportation is frankly… complicated.
- Balance between the professional body and the staff: One of the main problems that office work implies is the complication of employees to develop in their personal environment, both in the family environment and in other spheres that are so important for anyone for your emotional well-being as the same job.
- Greater efficiency: Did you know that working at home makes you on average 13% more efficient. A scientific article published by the National Bureau of Economic Research confirms this; not only that, you are 9% more committed and your burnout is 50% less.
- Greater security: In addition to that, working from home is much more difficult for a health reason to prevent you from your daily activities, especially the “work risk” that involves commuting from home to the office and back on a daily basis.
The advantages of teleworking are a wide range of reasons, and the cons seem to be especially small; At BBS we recently completed our first year of working from home. And there is no better way to find out how we live it, than consulting from within.
How do we experience remote work at BBS?
Although with a wide experience in the digital sector, and a great diversity of work schemes, like thousands of agencies in the country, the 2020 health emergency forced us at BBS to retreat and quickly adapt our work dynamics to the new reality . We did it? Oh yes! And with greater efficiency than we would have expected.
Josué González is currently the Content Manager of BBS, his experience with us began as a community manager in 2020. For him, the avalanche of “new normality” came a few months after entering the agency and as for everyone, it was equally surprising.
“Initially it was complicated because despite the activity we carry, we are used to going out, and cutting that routine can easily become the step to anxiety problems or things like that. The first thing I did to solve it was to adapt my room to a workspace where I could feel comfortable ”.
Josué González
After several months installed in his room / office, Josué managed to adapt well to his new rhythm of life and balance his professional participation within BBS with his personal life. Months after doing so, Josué temporarily moved to the state of Guanajuato where, in addition to changing the air, he took the opportunity to spend time with his grandparents.
“For me it is impressive how easy our work dynamics and technology provide to be close to your family in very distant places. Living in contact with nature, in a small town, also makes my creativity potentiate. It suits me very well “
Josué González
The change in routine for Josué had many positive things, but it also implied an adjustment process where not all were advantages.
“In the disadvantages that I see of the home office, I think that initially there is an imbalance that is noticeable in the lack of communication between teams; The ease that gives you the immediacy of having your colleagues a few meters away and being able to solve things faster is no longer there, so you have to learn to compensate for it in different ways.
Although at present there is evidence based on extensive research that confirms Josué’s testimony, the complications of the Home Office as a current work scheme are reduced to simple symptoms of adaptation and adjustments in the internal communication of a team.
Remote work is a reality that, on the one hand, we were forced to adopt thanks to the magnitude of the health contingency, but on the other hand, perhaps it should have come to work for years. Is it a dynamic that is here to stay? At BBS we know that it is.
