I feel more comfortable working from an office. Is this now a 'drawback'? [closed]

Question

Well. When I first experienced remote work, I was excited as most of us.

Some years later, it seems to be a model that is imposing itself in the IT environment at least.

In my personal case, I am back at the office right now. The thing is, I prefer it. I will say that I prefer it in part because I live in a small town and I work 10 minutes away from home (by foot). Obviously I don't think neither way is superior to the other, and I am happy so many people have encountered the experience so enjoyable.

I do concentrate better in an office though, and it makes me feel less isolated, I like to speak to people and get out of my home, and after work, most of my friends have different schedules and we mostly see ourselves in the weekends. And I am starting to worry that this preference can now be a problem when before, it maybe gave an advantage against people who only looked for remote work. Why? Because the job pool of office work has shrinked these last few years and now I am mostly being offered remote jobs.

Should I try hard to adapt to remote work? Do you think a nice ammount of companies will still provide a workplace as an option? How many of you feel similar? Which other options would you recommend? I, for example, have thought of going to a coworking space, where I can rent a desk and speak with physical people at least.

I should point out that I mean practical/pragmatic drawbacks more than anything. I do not think it is wrong or something like that to prefer one way or another, but for example, back in the day, looking for a remote job could shrink the ammount of jobs that matched your expectations.

Answer 1

Is this now a drawback?

Indirectly, yes. The candidate pool for any new job, assuming they allow both remote work and office, has multiplied. There are far more people now that you will be up against. Because your search will only be in the vincinity, while theirs is national.

Should I try hard to adapt to remote work?

Only if you don't find a job otherwise. If you have a nice job, why bother?

It's not like remote work is a skill and anybody is expecting "5 years experience in remote work". Nobody expected 5 years of sitting in an office either. It's always been about what you bring to produce a product, not what chair you sit in or what office decor you prefer.

Answer 2

At this point in time I'd say "no" - while there has been a marked increase in jobs offering WFH and remote in the last couple of years the majority of businesses still have office premises and as such can offer you an office-based experience if you prefer it. And I don't see that changing any time soon - if nothing else because many businesses will still have other job functions than IT that don't lend themselves quite as readily to remote working.

Even if the job is being offered as "remote" then there's no reason you can't ask if there's an option to be office based instead - it's more the case that the increased popularity of remote working has lead to people advertising it rather heavily.

Which other options would you recommend? I, for example, have thought of going to a coworking space, where I can rent a desk and speak with physical people at least.

If you've got ones nearby this is a solid option - it's pretty much the reason such spaces exist in the first place. So this means you aren't having to even exclude "remote only" jobs from your search. Whereas for people who want remote work there's no equivalent if an employer insists on office-based.

Answer 3

It depends - if your employer says "we are going to close one of our offices to save money, because 99% are happy working from home, so sorry, Dre, you will have to work from home", then you would have a problem. If they are happy to have you in the office, no problem. My last company had one guy who lived five minutes by bicycle from the office and was reliable enough to be trusted with the keys, and was Ok to go into the office to turn everything on after a power cut and similar things. A company might need someone in the office.

But generally, it's not something you would worry about until it actually happens.

Answer 4

This is not a disadvantage at all. You should not have to force to change your ways. This is the case for me too. I like to work from office as I like to be with people, have smalltalk with them and like that. Also, easier to concentrate and to separate work from personal life.

Answer 5

No, it is not a drawback. It is a desirable quality of an employee according to many employers.

During the pandemic, many companies may reasonably implement the "remote work policy".

However, when the pandemic is gradually fading away, the majority of the companies will prefer the "onsite work policy" because they can have more direct control of the work situations, and instant communications with their employees whenever needed.

Working onsite is the way that most big and medium companies want to operate in the long run regardless of whether their employees like it or not. (Example: In May/June 2022, Elon Musk has just asked all Tesla remote workers to work onsite or else, he says they should look for jobs elsewhere...).

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Note: I personally prefer the "remote work policy". But, I have nothing particularly against either remote or onsite work policy. It is something to be worked out between employers and employees.

Answer 6

I was exactly in the same situation as you are now. The pandemic came, everyone went remote including me. At first it was nice, and then I realized I preferred office work for the same reasons are you do.

But I took a different approach. As we say in Brazil, "If life gives you lemons, make a lemonade!".

At first I kept working (mostly alone) at the offices, and then the company removed it to save costs as (nearly) everyone was happy with remote work. Instead of fighting the trend, I took advantage of it. If I have to work from home, what is the difference if my employer is next door or in the opposite of the world? And I found a job with a waaay better salary, still working from home and that actually is at the opposite of the world :-)

I do go to a co-working space 2 times a week, I feel it as a tradeoff between working from home and working at the office : More focus and better environment than home, but not as much as a company office. Specially regarding the socializing part.

Answer 7

Yes

Even if you are in the office, your colleagues are not (potentially, depends on company, etc). So if you're at home, or at the official office, or at a co-working or other office-like environment, you are going to be communicating with your colleagues remotely. That means video-calls, audio-calls, Slack/Teams/etc, less synchronous face-to-face high bandwidth communication, and more asynchronous considered and documented communication.

So, depending what you want, you may be most interested in not only an office-based role but also in an organisation that is primarily office-based for all. Those are fewer than they were pre-2020 and so therefore this is a disadvantage compared to history.

But comparing to history isn't very useful - we can't get in a time machine and look for a job in the past! Is it a disadvantaged compared to someone of the same skills and experience having a preference for remote work? No, I don't think so. Different people want different things, and the more organisations recognise, accommodate, and value that diversity the better they will be for everyone.

Answer 8

imposing itself in the IT environment at least.

This is a fallacy, it may apply to some niches of IT in some locales. But it would be pretty hard to cable a building or maintain a server remotely or any of the 99% of IT work some of which require specialised and expensive tools I wouldn't let people take home without good reason.

Development work is one such niche. The tools basically can all fit into a machine the size of a briefcase.

So while some companies may not need an office (most companies are not just developers, usually it's a pretty small part of the staff), others always will and it makes sense to have their IT in the office.