Time to Zoom Out - Why Cohabitation Crushes Remote Work

Thoughts from David Powell, CEO, Enwork

The pandemic was quite a journey for all companies. Working from home provided an instantaneous new world of work. The pandemic created new challenges for everybody. The unexpected change from the daily office grind was surprisingly refreshing after many years of repetition. Suddenly, I found myself enjoying being home where I could focus on my work in a new way. But as time passed, the reality of it all hit. I missed being able to walk over to a colleague’s desk to get a quick answer. I missed the connection I had with my team. Working from home was no longer fun, effective, or welcome.

For me, the pandemic confirmed what I had come to believe after 25+ years’ experience and engagement in business: There is tremendous value in the team-work, learning, efficiency, and culture created when everybody is present at the company every day. While the accounting folks are drawn to the prospect of not paying for offices and cafeterias, and some employees appreciate skipping the commute, I believe a cohabitated company will outperform alternative workstyles over the medium and long-terms. Let’s evaluate six key areas.

Communication/Collaboration

One reason why I believe this to be true is in part due to the nature of communication and collaboration. While virtual meetings through platforms like Zoom have provided a way to connect and communicate during the pandemic, in-person meetings will always be superior to virtual in terms of communication efficiency. So much so that experts are now examining an emerging complaint among employees – Zoom fatigue.

Zoom fatigue refers to the mental strain virtual meetings take on participants. We’ve all experienced how Zoom can limit the speed of responses, test patience, and make it more difficult to share information. Couple that with the distracting nature of seeing your own image during meetings, and the reality of barking dogs or cameo appearances from spouses, children, and others; virtual meetings quickly become exhausting.

We can’t underestimate how whiteboards, real-time sketches, body language, visual cues, and more all lead to better communication and collaboration. 

Efficiency  

In my experience, organizational speed, or what I like to call throughput velocity, is the single most important aspect of organizational success. The ability to get and share information quickly and react in real-time to opportunities and problems is what keeps an organization agile. Taking the time to call or email, wait for a response, and then arrange a meeting all takes time that could have been saved if everyone was in the same place. Nothing beats cohabitation for the ability to quickly pull together the needed group of people to attack situations with speed and achieve results immediately. 

Culture

Culture is the soul of a company and a key ingredient to long-term success. Business basics, like great products, distribution channels, and accounting, are needed to run a business but without a great culture, you can only get so far and most likely not outpace the competition. Let’s talk about various elements of culture and how they fit together.

The most important part of a corporate culture is one that promotes personal satisfaction for employees. Without it, the company has missed the mark. My experience is that personal satisfaction for most people means they want to make an impact on company success and feel that they are valued for their contributions, no matter how big or small their role may be. The nurturing of this must be constant with personal feedback, which is best provided through eye-to-eye contact, in real time, through collaboration, and with excellent communication through visual cues and body language.

Another critical element of culture is the need to celebrate successes within a company. Successes are signs that the plan is working. Life is hard and full of challenges, which is all the more reason to just take time to celebrate when you can. Celebrations can be simple or big. Both are impactful, and should be done regularly, when appropriate. The company can grill lunch, have pizza, coordinate an ice cream truck, or anything else that creates special moments that bring employees together. Celebrating work anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, and more is also important. 

Team building is also imperative. We have Thanksgiving potlucks, anniversary luncheons, retirement cakes, card-game tournaments, golf leagues, running clubs and more. People love breaking up the monotony of work with opportunities to interact with coworkers in a social setting. In fact, when you look back on your career 10 years from now, you probably won’t remember specific projects or transactions. You will primarily remember the goofy things that happened at work during celebrations or personal relationships built over time.

What do all of these culture elements have in common? They happen to the highest degree when in person. Notice a theme here yet?

Team Work

I believe the best teams are those who are focused and aligned around common goals and the process of achieving them. Teams that enjoy working together and rally around a common purpose will out-perform disjointed teams – and quality team bonding occurs best through real-life interaction.

Collaboration by close proximity, and ease of proximity, naturally promotes bonding when occurring in a healthy work environment. It’s undoubtedly easier to overhear important things going on or to ask questions of team mates when you’re close to your team. Not to mention, when you like your colleagues, you’re more likely to help them succeed.

 Timing is also incredibly important. When working within proximity of one another, it’s easier to assess which teams or team members may be under deadlines or pressure. Team members can decide to hold off on a request or offer help, in ways that remote work cannot facilitate.

Learning Organizations

It’s critical for all organizations to continually learn. The smarter the organization, the more effective it is in the marketplace. Over time, an organization will develop better products, create better customer experiences and make fewer mistakes if they’re a learning organization. Learning from each other, creating process improvements, and the training and mentoring of employees are all aspects of organizational learning. Ultimately, co-located teams are more effective vehicles for cross-team learning. Again, the hundreds of casual conversations that occur during the day provide the best vehicle for this learning.

Engagement

It’s more difficult to measure quality and quantity of contribution when team members regularly work remotely. Sure, some positions and services require remote work most of the time, however that’s not the case for many companies. We know from experience that measuring results leads to a better understanding of business reality. How many lines are being entered? How many issues were caused? How many hours are people working? You may be surprised by the number of salaried employees who consistently work less than 40 hours per week.

Cohabitated work environments are an important tool in improving worker engagement. By creating inspiring and productive meeting spaces, employees more naturally meet to share information and push projects forward. Productivity is contagious, and well-designed work spaces allow worker productivity and engagement to spread throughout the organization. This phenomenon is difficult to replicate away from the office, when countless unrelated distractions may be present. When coworkers learn from one another, can see projects evolve and completed, as well as develop stronger relationships, engagement increases.

Conclusion

The essence of the human experience is to connect with other humans. People are happiest when they feel a sense of purpose and are able to interact with each other. Enwork strives to design products and spaces that foster this interaction. We are a healthier company and poised for long-term success by achieving the speed and skill necessary to make our customers happy though a cohabitated work environment.

While the pandemic took it’s emotional, physical, and mental toll on most of us, as an organization, it’s important to learn from this past year. Remote work may have its time and place; it still falls short compared to cohabitated work. From communication efficiency and culture to throughput velocity, when we work together, the entire organization benefits. So let’s leave Zoom behind and get back to work, together.