Since 2020, home-office work has gained strength in the work market. Since then, many employees and companies have adhered to and maintained the model, while others have preferred to return to face-to-face – at least, a few times a week, not only by imposition of the company, but many times by desire of the collaborators – in fact, this is not the focus of the discussion that I propose.
I’d like to reverse the conversation in this article, not addressing which model would be best, but which model would be best for whom. It’s a simple pronoun in the sentence, but it changes everything.
Instead of “what type of work should I offer in my company?”, some questions must be asked, in order to base the choice and guarantee a good internal environment and a good level of customer satisfaction. What do my employees prefer? Do they have the right profile for this model? Which model does the company show better results through?
When the preference of employees is home-office, the need for an autonomous profile is implicit, the person needs to have self-management capacity. In addition, the company and the core business need to allow the creation and implementation of performance indicators, that is, an objective way to measure in an almost autonomous way whether that professional is performing or not.
These systems do not need to be complex, just an efficient management model. If your business allows this, the home-office model can be viable and very efficient, since employees who prefer this model tend to see this possibility as a benefit.
Now, the fact that it is viable and efficient does not mean it can emulate the face-to-face experience. What I mean is that, even if the home office is viable, coffee is not drunk in the Zoom room. Even though I can train a person from a distance, the shoulder-to-shoulder experience is like no other. As well as the stress of a crowded bus that costs almost three hours a day for a worker in the city of São Paulo, for example.
The idea of controlling the team in person and losing control of the team online is a fallacy. There are people who manage to “roll up” sitting face to face with the boss and real machines that deliver excellent results from a distance.
And in both cases you can roll it up for long periods or you can find out quickly. It depends on the management. What I mean is, in the discussion between home-office, face-to-face or hybrid, it is necessary to stick to real indicators and not to false paradigms.
Knowing well the employee’s profile and the needs of the team and business are essential when defining and imposing the type of work.Source: Getty Images
Far beyond working from home or going to an office every day, this is the moment to get to know your employees better, their way of working and their core business, in addition to their customers, of course. The truth is that your company and the people who work there can win or lose with both models.
I could go on listing numerous pros and cons of the home office and the face-to-face work model, which, by the way, has been done massively. But, my goal here is to make you think about your business and your employees, showing that there is no right and wrong. After that, you will surely know how to answer the question in the title of this text.
