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The numerous debates that come with being self-employed usually revolve around the finances. When you are running a business, small, medium, or large, you will have to understand the aspects that need superficial trimming so the business can profit long-term. It’s a very popular approach, as far as money saving is concerned, having workers do their jobs at home. But when you weigh this up in comparison to the office setup, where the team are all under one roof, which one is better?
The Cultural Impact
There’s a lot of talk about the culture of a business, and this is defined by a team’s ability to work well together. As the company under one roof can benefit from a positive culture, the teams that work remotely can feel out of the loop. This is especially true if you have a remote workforce and an in-house team. This means that the business leader who works with remote teams has to make extra effort to ensure that those people feel as involved.
Are Finances Everything?
Because we can look at the office setup as a pointless expense, we can immediately shun the idea of working in an office environment. While there are business properties to let in big inner city areas, you could argue that the money is too much, especially the very beginning of your business. But the more you work at investing in the company at the very inception, including the office environment as well as the promotional materials, this provides a baseline where company culture can thrive, the team can work together well, as well as the entire business having a more tangible feeling. Because a company needs a sense of morale, this is something that can be difficult to achieve with a remote workforce alone. As a result, if you’re looking to hire people to work remotely permanently, you’ve got to ensure that the perks of the job are there so people will apply. Usually, you will end up hiring freelancers and people of similar ilk because they’re looking for a very hands-off approach. But if you want a business that is productive, and you want people to feel part of a team, then is the remote working setup actually for you?
The Additional Issues
From the leader’s perspective, you have got to work at communicating with your teams if they are remotely located. This can mean to get a simple answer to a question, you’ve got to send an email, wait for the response, and the process may begin all over again as the answer isn’t what you expected, possibly due to misinterpretation. An office environment can be conducive to productivity because everybody’s under one roof but it’s not impossible with remote workers; you have got to figure out how best to communicate. This means making the most of technical tools like VoIP, instant messaging, as well as productivity tools to ensure that people are collaborating effectively. It’s harder, but it’s achievable once you get into the swing of it!
Which is better? It’s very difficult to say based on a superficial need. Financially speaking, it is obviously cheaper to run a business from your home, but if you are to utilise the best tools, and ensure that you work extra hard at making the culture a worthwhile one, you can make it a success.
This is a collaborative post.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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