Lately I’ve been thinking about the ongoing conversations around remote work. It feels like there’s a growing push to move workers back into the office. From my perspective, continuing to embrace remote work offers numerous benefits—not just personally but professionally.
Personal Benefits
Remote work has completely transformed the way I manage my day:
- It eliminates commuting time, which used to take at least an hour of my day, giving me more quality time to spend with family, engage in hobbies, or simply relax and recharge.
- My mornings now start calmer and more focused, significantly boosting my productivity compared to the hectic rush associated with commuting.
- It significantly reduces the anxiety of knowing you’re at least 30 minutes away if your child suddenly becomes sick or needs immediate attention at daycare or school.
When I started at Perficient in February 2020, it was just before Covid hit the United States. I knew then I was committing to working remotely for the long haul, well before many companies had even considered letting everyone work from home. This early transition reinforced my belief in the lasting value and viability of remote work.
Convenience and Cost Savings
- Lunch time/breaktime. Another often-overlooked advantage of remote work is how it simplifies lunch breaks. When commuting to an office, you typically have two choices: prepare your lunch in advance, which can be inconvenient and time-consuming during an already rushed morning — or buy lunch daily, quickly becoming expensive. Working from home eliminates this hassle. Instead of spending an hour (and often at least $15) on lunch out, I can quickly reheat delicious leftovers, such as homemade soup or a grilled sandwich. Eating comfortably at my desk also allows me to stay productive, saving both time and money while offering healthier, tastier meal options.
- Vehicle fuel and maintenance costs associated with commuting. My travel from home to downtown was about 20 miles. If I make that trip 5 days a week we’re up to 200 miles a week. That’s 10,000 miles a year if I drive into the office 50 weeks out of the year or so. Given that the average light-duty vehicle gets about 24mpg and gas is around $3 a gallon, that’s roughly $1250 a year I’m spending on gas alone. That doesn’t even take into account yet the wear and tear on the tires, oil changes, and general maintenance costs. Maybe you’re lucky enough to get your parking paid for, otherwise you can expect to shell out another $1000 a year on that as well.
- Professional wardrobe maintenance. While I still dress professionally for client calls, I no longer wear slacks and need to get shirts pressed or maintain dress shoes.
Hiring and Talent Pool Benefits
From a skills and hiring perspective, remote work provides significant advantages:
- It provides access to highly specialized talent in niche technologies like Sitecore and NextJS, regardless of geographical location, allowing us to build stronger, more capable teams.
- Remote hiring dramatically expands our available talent pool, overcoming the significant limitations and competition associated with relying solely on local hiring.
Global Team Advantages
Working remotely also opens doors globally, creating opportunities such as:
- Establishing a true 24-hour work cycle with teams spread around the world, covering development, quality assurance, and other critical roles seamlessly.
- Projects transition smoothly between time zones, significantly increasing efficiency, reducing project timelines, and enabling faster issue resolution and innovation.
- Enhanced flexibility and productivity even within the United States, with team members strategically distributed from the East Coast to the West Coast, extending productive hours across the day.
- On days when I need to come in early or work late or work on a weekend, there are no office access or security concerns I may have in an office.
Team Connection and Collaboration
Working remotely doesn’t mean isolation:
- At Perficient, we have numerous opportunities to stay connected and engaged with teammates through frequent calls, virtual team-building activities, and collaborative projects.
- Remote work isn’t about working alone; it’s simply a new, and often more effective, approach to collaboration, leveraging technology to maintain strong team relationships.
- Because we are all working remotely, we see each other’s pets and say hello to each others children. We get to know each other in a different way.
- 1 on 1 conversations are really 1:1 conversations. You don’t have to go a conference room or risk being overheard.
Customized Home Workspace
Another key advantage of remote work is the ability to create a workspace specifically tailored to health and productivity. While there was an initial investment on my part to have the wide screen monitor and fancy noise cancelling earbuds I love, its worth it to me to have the equipment I want instead of the one size fits all office setup. Other examples of customizations I love are:
- My workspace includes a powered stand-up desk that easily transitions between sitting and standing, helping maintain my comfort and reduce fatigue throughout the day.
- I use a walking treadmill positioned under my desk, allowing me to combine physical activity with work. This personalized setup is something an office environment typically cannot provide, directly benefiting my health and work effectiveness.
Flexibility and Quality of Life
A co-worker recently emphasized the flexibility of remote work as something indispensable:
- The ability to extend family vacations without rushing back to the office, meaning more meaningful family experiences.
- Being available for the mom/dad taxi service for events like sports practices or games, play or musical rehearsals, field days, and all of the other little things that come up with school and kids.
Being home when your children get home from school or need you around, making work-life integration more effective and fulfilling. While I understand that some businesses might prefer having teams physically in the office, remote work represents more than just a temporary shift. It’s a fundamental change in our view of productivity, talent acquisition, and work-life balance. From personal and professional perspectives, the benefits are simply too valuable to give up lightly.
Remote work is not merely convenient; it’s a decision that supports healthier lifestyles, stronger families, and a richer talent pool. Embracing remote work positions companies to thrive in a rapidly evolving, increasingly connected world. It’s a choice I’m not ready to give up anytime soon.
Gone are the days of missing an entire day of work because you are waiting for a service technician who will arrive between 9:00am-2:00pm.
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