WFH – WTF? 6 reasons NOT to work from home

Get outta here

Craving lots of likes on LinkedIn? Easy. Write something extolling the virtues of working from home and why everyone should do it.

Well, you’re not about to get that from Highbrook. We get too many likes already. So here’s the contrary view: why working from home is a bad thing.

Don’t get me wrong. If I never have to be squeezed into a sardined London Tube train again in this life, I will be a happy and contented worker.

And as a matter of fact, Highbrook has long practised virtual and remote working. So lockdown made not one tiny dent in our service to clients.

But I don’t believe in permanent or prolonged working from home as now promised by some big companies. Naturally, cynics will say this sudden turnaround in corporate attitudes is more for the amazing office rental savings than the improved mental health of staff.

So here are some reasons why WFH isn’t always good.

1. There will be no happy accidents

Many of the best ideas are not dreamt up in solitude. Most of the best ideas are not the product of a single mind. A good number come about by happenstance: someone says something that sparks a thought in another. This happens best of all not in a formal meeting, but in the corridor or on a walk. We’re at our most creative when we’re at play.

2. Silent supervision can’t happen

If you’re managing people in an office, you don’t need Zoom to ask what they’re doing. You just know because you can see and hear them doing it. You sense who’s under pressure and who needs support.

3. Trainees are not possible

Working from home assumes you have a home, or at least a place where you can set up shop. Young people often have no more than a small bedroom, which makes it stressful for their flatmates. Trainees, of course, also need more interaction – the sort of informal guidance and mentoring that’s so much easier if you’re in the same place.

4. Teamwork is diminished

When I used to work at the sharp end of newspapers, visitors were always impressed with the smoothness of the news operation when covering an important breaking story. There was no need for constant instructions or talk: people just knew what to do, almost by a sort of urgent telepathy. It’s wonderful to see it happening. You don’t get that from afar.

5. It’s bad for the soul in the end

Let’s face it, some sorts of work are best done alone, but most work is not. We like the chat, the daft jokes, the solidarity when everything is against us.

6. The home has just as many distractions as the office, just different ones

The celebrated playwright Harold Pinter once complained that he found it difficult to write at home because of the nagging urge to go out to buy a 60-watt bulb. Now, I wonder, what colour should I paint that wall?

So what’s best? Toil from home when you are engaged on intense work on a report or writing, activities where solitude helps. Work in the office when collab oration, team-work, supervision and mentoring are needed. A happy medium.