WFH

Here in Canada, the federal government issued a mandate for all workers they employ to return to their offices by March. That means going back to working full time from the office, as opposed to 3 days in the office and 2 days from home as it is right now.

Understandably, it caused a great deal of disturbance. Opinions are expressed very vocally and the community is divided. Government workers are appalled. For them, it means wasting time on commute, disruption of their established routines, and less time with their families. Other folks say it's a good thing that everything is finally going back to normal and those workers need to suck it up and stop complaining. Downtown businesses rejoice and eagerly await new customers. Overall, it's a hot conversation topic and everybody has their opinion.

This made me think of what is my preferred style of work. On one hand, I do enjoy working from the office. I like talking to people and brainstorm some hard problems using the whiteboard. Coffe breaks are fun too. On the other side, I like doing focused work in the comfort of my own house. It's great having a quiet productive time without any distractions. Also, no commute means a lot more time for personal life. At the same time, I also enjoy an occasional work session from a local coffee shop. Seems that there's no perfect answer.

But I think there is! And it's called "flexibility". Allow people to work from home, but also give them some office space if they'd like. A lot of folks hate their commutes and spending time in traffic. Some others simply don't have a great environment to work from at the place they live. Maybe they have small kids or they're living with their relatives and just don't have the space to focus. Everybody has their different preferences and living conditions.

Personally, I'm very fortunate and extremely grateful that my work allows for that flexibility. And I do think that most of the future workplaces will mostly look like that. Flexible work hours, flexible work environment. I just wish more people had access to that right now.

This post is part of the #100days project, where I try to write a post a day. Today is #day21