Home Office – Pros and Cons?

Just like the great majority of European countries, we Austrians have spent the better part of a year in lock-down, seclusion and most importantly, the so-called HOME OFFICE! Since a great deal of employees have had to deal with that new reality of working from home, what are the conclusion after almost a year of lockdown with increased Home Office?

✅ Short-term work in the Home Office alone (Deep Work Sessions) increases productivity
✅ More time & flexibility with family
✅ Less time wasted due to the daily arrival & departure

Comment on if you agree with this, or if your experiences have been different. 

❌ Creative brainstorming sessions with whiteboard work much better offline
❌ Team spirit needs human contact. We prefer to celebrate success together in the office, ring the bell and have lunch together.
❌ Spontaneous and short-term (positive) impulses or ideas are much more common in the office, sparked by spontaneity, emotion and inspiration.

Our conclusion this far is as follows: We are in favour of a healthy mix which combines fixed working hours with a continuous duty of communication, combined with days in the Home Office that are designed to both safe time and resources and also give the employees the feeling of being given the responsibility of  juggling your work load on your own. At the same time, we need people to make regular contact and offline!  Thus, we see a combination of both as the best solution in the long term, educating employees on the one hand to more self responsibility and still keeping the spirits and emotions high by continuous presence in the office where you meet up with colleagues and co- workers to chat, interchange experiences and enjoy the coffee together.

What are your experiences with Home Office or the new work culture?