Without equilibrium, there is nothing but chaos.
Nowadays, the IT industry is constantly expanding its capabilities. One of the most important things that have become more and more popular lately is remote work. Like everything else, it has its pros and cons. In TDCM, we are great supporters of this possibility. Many of our employees use this opportunity. Although our headquarters is in Lodz, we also work with other Polish cities, as well as Spain and Portugal, sometimes even from the United States. We are not afraid of working on the go. We have been connected from almost all of Europe and Asia due to the possibility of working remotely. Is it, however, as convenient as it may seem?
Flexible hours are the most appealing feature of this kind of work.
No matter if you are an early bird or a night owl, as long as your part of the job is done, nobody will make you work 9 to 5. In our company, there are people who stay late at night and those who are more likely to start their work with the sunrise. The only obligation is to attend our regular synchronous meetings twice a week. Distribution of the rest working hours is up to us.
However, the real threat may be the lack of control over working hours. When working in the office, it’s a piece of cake – when you come to the office, work begins. It ends at a fixed hour, you go out and it’s easy to forget about work until the next day. Remote work does not have this comfort. You can often forget and prolong working hours just to finish "just one more little thing". When you work from home, it's also harder to separate your business and private life. There is no time when you leave the day work behind you. The home sacrum at times becomes a business profanum, especially when there is no separate place to work.
When life gives us lemons, we paint them gold. It's all about how it's handled.
Since we appreciate cooperation with the US, significant time difference could be a problem, especially when working flexible hours. For us, however, it has never been a tough nut to crack. Many times, we needed to deal with this issue, but it is not as complicated as it seems to be. Whenever there was a problem, it was immediately reported and handled. When the other side reported the issue, there was no problem that our employee would connect to the system from home and try to fix it. That is why remote work can be amazing.
As a matter of fact, working from home is extremely comfortable. Not only can you sleep well, stay comfy for the whole day and spend it in your outworn tracksuit, but also you don’t waste your time commuting! Just by avoiding public transport, you can save up to 10 hours of time weekly (depending on your distance to work). Moreover, with flexible hours it is possible to take a break during the day to go for a walk and enjoy the sunniest parts of the day. Let’s be honest – how often do you go to work in the dark and return home yet again in the dark? Now you can see the sun again even during the shortest day of the year.
We value essence and quality over squeezing each minute dry.
Working in an open-space office is not the most efficient mode. Not everybody can stay focused for several hours in a noisy, crowded place. Although in our company we concentrate on good working environment, it’s still more genuine to work remotely. In a home, you can always take a break to recharge your batteries, rest in silence or, if you prefer, put on some music and then hit the running ground again. It is not always possible in the office. This aspect has its downside as well. When you stay at home, you are alone there. This may bring an unpleasant feeling of isolation and being alone with work.
In TDCM, we have found a way how to solve this problem. There is always a place for shared lunches, bursting out laughing or just spending short breaks with your colleagues. Despite team calls organized weekly, we always take care of integration parts. We organize LAN parties when everybody can play some co-op games with friends, and we always spend important occasions, like Christmas Eve or, very popular in Poland, Fat Thursday celebrating. It’s honestly nice when you can come to the office once in time and see your colleagues smiling at you every time.
With the right flow, any obstacle might be overcome.
Remote work also means that a large part of the communication is done in writing. One of the most convenient perks is that it’s utterly easy to catch up on the latest news. You can scroll through Slack or Discord and after few minutes you know what’s up. Using this kind of applications also allows you to mute notification when you are done with working. It is useful when you want to spend restful leisure time. Unfortunately, it is a thin line between being up to date and being overwhelmed. Considering the different working hours of colleagues, it may take a lot of time to read everything that has happened before your shift. When you add different time zones, a mess may appear.
Although the remote work has some inconveniences, a good organization can solve all of them. In TDCM, we do not only allow our workers to work remotely, but also support them with all our strength. Since a content employee equals an effective job. And its results are something that we can undoubtedly take care of.