I don’t need the office to be home base

Some mornings, I drop my son off at school and may need to stay another 20 minutes. Something might be happening there, or I might be asked to stay for an assembly. If I then have to commute to an office, my arrival becomes harder to predict. A small change to the morning can turn into unnecessary back-and-forth about when I’ll get to a desk.

There are also days when I need to take my son to an appointment. Remote work makes it possible to step away and get back to work afterward. I don’t want to go to an office for an hour here and there between the other things I need to do. When I’ve faced an expectation to be there, some days it has meant changing what my son expected of me that day. That’s the trade-off that stays with me.

I’m talking about those frustrations without claiming I have a current employer setting office rules. I said I’m kind of unemployed right now. I don’t have a settled work schedule to describe, but I know what kind of arrangement would make sense for my life.

For knowledge workers whose jobs are entirely digital, the office does not need to be home base. I don’t think people should have to be tethered to a desk just to meet roll call for management. That isn’t an argument that every job can be done from home. Some types of work call for being there in person.

What bothers me is the difference between going in for a reason and going in because the office is treated as the default. If I need to take my son somewhere, I don’t think stepping away should be judged in isolation from the work I do. Parents may plug back in after their kids go to bed. Flexibility leaves room to handle what comes up during the day without making every change of location a problem.

A reason to meet in person

I can see the value in meeting colleagues. My preferred setup would have remote work as the base, with an office day or two in a week, or occasional team meetups. People can get lunch together, talk face to face and brainstorm. I’m not against any of that. I just don’t think those meetings have to dictate where everyone works the rest of the time.

I’ve read news about fully remote companies that seem to be growing and well organized. I know about them from reading, not from working inside them. What I take from that is a willingness to consider a different setup, not a belief that every company should operate the same way.

A commute also takes time. I would rather have room for the morning that runs long at school or an appointment that interrupts the day than make a trip to an office the day’s organizing principle. I still want to see a team in person sometimes. I just want those meetings to have a purpose beyond showing that I arrived.

I still want to see a team in person sometimes. I just want those meetings to have a purpose beyond showing that I arrived.