An Extrovert’s Argument for Remote Work

There is a whole argument to be made for how remote work can improve employees’ quality of life. There is also very clear and compelling evidence for a lowered budget on rent, utilities, and other various overhead costs. But are those benefits worth the perceived costs to face-to-face engagement and collaboration?

I call myself a “Major Extrovert”. I love people – I gain positive energy just being around people. So, when my workplace sent out a survey about how to structure work after the pandemic, I expected to say something akin to “get everyone back to the office NOW!”.

But as I stopped to consider the questions, I was surprised at my own conclusions. Maybe remote work isn’t so bad for a “people person” after all. So, I wrote down my Top 7 Reasons to Keep Your Work Virtual:

1. Full Participation. I remember pre-pandemic sitting in “hybrid” meetings (with some participants in-person and some virtual) and frequently forgetting that the virtual participants were even there. Without everyone at their own computer, it was hard for anyone but the meeting leader to fully engage with the virtual participants. But when your meetings are 100% virtual, everyone can engage using the same tools.

2. Increased Attendance. When you are pressed to meet a deadline and you see a 2-hour training on your calendar – that is strongly encouraged but not on your performance review – raise your hand if the training session gets the axe. [Both hands raised]. But if that training is online and you can listen in while crunching numbers, that becomes more do-able, right? I’ve heard this from multiple friends in other organizations: attendance has gone up with virtual meetings.

3. Increased Connection with Leadership. You know those big “All Hands” or “Assembly” meetings? Seeing my organization’s president right in front of me on the screen actually feels a lot more personable than seeing them across the auditorium on a stage.

The ability to engage with them increases, too. There is something about raising your hand in a room of 100+ people, waiting for someone to bring you a microphone, and feeling the weight of a couple hundred eyeballs on you that can make a junior employee turn lobster red, start sweating, and lose mastery of the English language. But with an open chatbox, anyone can take the time to carefully craft their question or comment in a low-pressure environment. More people can engage as leadership quickly scans for questions and comments, rather than waiting for a microphone to be passed around the room.

And one last thing – as someone who struggles to remember the name of that awesome guy in IT who has fixed my computer at least ten times, is there anything better than having everyone’s name RIGHT THERE ON THE SCREEN? My organization’s president might not know me from Adam, but he can see my name on the screen, call me out by name and praise me for an insightful comment, and you have just boosted my company loyalty by 1000%.

4. Screen Sharing. In group meetings, the ability to share screens and have everyone on their own computer is actually very useful. I often have a hard time seeing what people are showing over a projector, which really decreases what I actually get out of the meeting. Meetings with my supervisor are also more effective when conducted virtually because we can show each other things on our computers and pull up files to send each other while we're talking about them. Virtual meetings also involve killing exactly zero trees.

5. Intentional Collaboration. One of the biggest concerns I heard about remote work early on in the pandemic is that collaboration could decrease as people might have a hard time connecting with coworkers, especially from other teams and departments. However, with this concern, I also saw a very intentional effort to compensate. At my workplace, organizational assemblies which were previously held quarterly, were increased to a weekly event to communicate emerging plans. As the environment became more stable, these weekly assemblies became an opportunity to communicate progress toward organizational goals and to feature different projects, departments, and people. This intentional approach has helped me feel more connected to the organization as a whole and helped me better understand the work of other areas so I know who to go to with different needs.

6. Inclusion. Worrying about being “socially acceptable” kills focus, creativity, and engagement. One employee explained that her moderate Tourette’s syndrome means that she’s not obviously disabled, but has enough tics that she worries about how she is perceived in the office. Working at home frees her from that concern. Friends with ADHD have modified their home offices so that they can bounce or pedal or walk around the room during a meeting to help them focus. An employee with a bad back can stretch or lay on the floor during a long meeting, instead of sitting in pain wondering when she can sneak out.

7. Authentic Connection. Bestselling author and researcher Brene Brown explains that the foundation of social connection is vulnerability and authenticity. With the pandemic’s sudden upheaval of work, school, and family routines, many of us got a front-row view into our coworkers’ homes and personal lives. Seeing a toddler wander in or being introduced to a pet gave us a more complete understanding of who our coworkers really are, and helped us connect at a more authentic level. Here’s what Emma Seppala wrote in the Harvard Business Review about applying Brene Brown to the workplace:

“Here’s what may happen if you embrace an authentic and vulnerable stance: Your staff will see you as a human being; they may feel closer to you; they may be prompted to share advice; and – if you are attached to hierarchy – you may find that your team begins to feel more horizontal.”

Perhaps a little more authenticity and vulnerability in your workplace could be a good thing! As a self-proclaimed extrovert and people person, there is really nothing more fulfilling and inspiring than the opportunity to see people for who they really are.

So, when your organization starts thinking about “heading back to the office” – try pumping the breaks a little and consider where your employees really work best.

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Bio: Taylor Rosecrans is a doctoral student in business administration with interest in organizational communication and employee voice behaviors. She works as a Coordinator for Academic Centers at Franklin University and as an Adjunct Faculty. Taylor currently serves on the Board of Directors for a local domestic violence shelter and is the mother to one daughter who is six-going-on-sixteen. She holds an MBA from Western Governors University, a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Utah, and a B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University.