By Catherine Lang-Cline
Up until now, business people have failed to embrace working from home. But this pandemic has taught everyone that remote working works. 83% of employers now say the shift to remote work has been successful for their company, compared to 73% in June, according to PwC’s survey about remote work. And BusinessWire reports that about 83% of the employees want to return to the office in some capacity; 52% miss socializing, 44% miss having the proper equipment, and 44% just want to get out of the house.
Is everyone wanting to go back, 9 – 5, all-in? No. Business Insider said that 48% of employees would prefer a hybrid of in-office and work from home. This means employers need to develop a plan because many employees are also willing to leave a company that does not offer this option. What are the choices?
Here are some definitions of what companies like Twitter, Nationwide, and Ford are doing:
Optional: Employees have the option to work from home or the office.
Partial: Some employees, based on role and situation, can work from home.
Remote First: The processes required to work remotely lead the company’s operations, with in-office processes coming second.
Fully Remote: The company does not have any physical office locations.
Hybrid: The company plans to have employees working from home part of the time and in an office part of the time.
What about us?
This is something that we have put a lot of thought into here at Portfolio Creative and we want to announce our decision here. We are permanently embracing a “remote-first” model. Working remotely will be the primary option for our team. How did we reach this conclusion? Our team is made up of good humans that we trust, they keep our customers first, and at the same time establish other work/life balance goals. We have always had successful team communication and communication with you through technology. Doing this isn’t just thinking like a futurist; we have always had the optional model, now we are all in with remote-first.
This also means that we can still meet you in person if you prefer. We love face-to-face. We will meet you anywhere for coffee, or you can visit us at our new in-person spot at 1201 Dublin Rd., Columbus, 43215.
There are many perks to all of these models, but you need to find one that works for you and your team. The top three perks have been 1) better productivity 2) improved employee satisfaction with their job and 3) reduced business costs. And that sounds pretty good to us.
