With many employees choosing to work from home, many companies are permanently switching to a remote working model. Therefore, to cut down on expenses, companies are also considering shutting down their offices for the most part.
In this article, we will be talking about companies that have chosen to make that massive shift. However, before doing so, let’s talk about some of the many pros and cons of working from home to understand why companies are making the switch.
The Pros of WFH
Allows employees to choose wherever they want to live (usually a place with a lower cost of living)
Cuts down on commute time and cost (Remote employees save an average of 40 minutes daily from commuting)
Increases overall productivity (77 percent of people working from home report higher productivity)
The Cons of WFH
Some employees may not have enough space in their homes to create a proper working station that will allow them to focus
Can cause loneliness and affect employees’ mental wellness
Creating a clear separation between work and personal life can be a challenge (Homeworkers are 52 percent less likely to take time off work)
Many companies, specifically in the United States, are adopting a fully remote working model. However, many companies are still choosing not to entirely remove their office spaces and keep them for large-scale meetings and employees who really need an official space to work.
The following are some examples:
1. Quora
In a blog post, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo said, “I was genuinely surprised to see how productive we were while remote. I was especially surprised to see that the majority of our employees preferred remote work, despite having taken a job that required presence in an office.”
When considering whether to go fully remote or not, D’Angelo thoroughly considered several factors - (1) commute, (2) ability to focus, (3) the housing crisis in the Bay Area, and (4) the visa and immigration situation in the United States.
The company, however, will still keep its office and convert it to a co-working space. D’Angelo himself will not work in the office and will visit the office no more than once a month. The company’s leadership teams won’t be located in the office either.
2. Dropbox
In October 2020, just a few months after the pandemic hit, Dropbox decided to go fully remote after an internal survey indicated that 90% of its employees were more productive when working from home.
Similar to Quora, Dropbox will not shut down its office and will convert it into a co-working space called Dropbox Studio. Drew Houston, CEO of the company, emphasized that the co-working space should only be used when completing collaborative tasks and not “solo work.”
The company understands that with this change, many employees will choose to relocate and be in different time zones. Therefore, they are allowing each worker to decide their own work hours.
3. Drift
Drift, a sales and marketing software company, has decided to go fully remote despite being hesitant to do so in the beginning.
According to CEO David Cancel, “We were very strict about [in-person work culture]. No one worked remotely. Everyone was in the office five days a week. All our rituals were in person, like our meetings, our kickoffs, our events... a very face-time-centric culture.”
It took a while for Cancel and members of his team to adjust to the work-from-home model. However, over time, he saw that remote work has benefitted his employees in many ways - allowing them to make major life changes that they weren’t able to before, moving to lower-cost areas, being closer to family, and such.
Conclusion
After reading this article, I’m sure you can tell the appeal of a fully remote working model. Many are predicting that more companies in the coming months will choose to adopt a hybrid, if not a fully remote working model.