The option of working from home is becoming increasingly popular. The advantages of home office are obvious: companies are happy to save office costs, hope for focused completion of important tasks, and are perceived as attractive employers through a lived culture of trust. Many employees are happy to do without annoying commutes, appreciate improved work-life balance, and also the distance from disruptive elements such as disliked managers or noisy colleagues. However, there are also employees who want to learn from their colleagues in person, and others who report being less engaged and motivated at home.
Two months ago, Björn Böhning, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, announced plans to implement a legal right to home office for employees this year. According to the ministry, only 12% of German permanent employees have their wish for more flexible work fulfilled, although 40% could theoretically work from home.
Home Office in Agile Teams
In the context of the modern workplace, home office is already indispensable. Agile working is often mentioned in the same breath. However, there are good reasons to assign employees in agile teams to the 60% who are better off in the office. Proponents of agile organizational cultures like to refer to the agile values and principles formulated by software developers in 2001 in the so-called Agile Manifesto. According to this, face-to-face conversation is the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within the team.
In fact, non-agile psychologists, communication experts, and HR professionals repeatedly emphasize that distributed teams experience reduced information flow. In our communication training sessions, we consistently emphasize that face-to-face conversation is the most direct form of communication. Certainly, much can be said via messenger or in a phone call. However, the chances of truly understanding a person and what they are saying increase noticeably when moods, facial expressions, gestures, and body language are also perceived. A video chat may partially cover this, but nothing beats personal and physically present exchange.
And the Flip Side?
Of course, direct collaboration in one location is not itself a guarantee of effective communication. As everyone knows, collaboration can fail even when all team members are in the same place. What is crucial for successful collaboration is communication ability itself and the awareness that every message can be interpreted in different ways. Thus, the increased organizational effort of distributed teams can even be a driver for more efficient communication and coordination. For example, a regular meeting under challenging remote conditions might suddenly run much more disciplined.
Collaboration and communication are essential and challenging. Neither technology and tools can solve all problems, nor simple collaboration in the same location. Every team has different constraints and problems, and no approach will work for everyone. But here too there is a great agile practice: the retrospective. Here, agile teams regularly and at short intervals discuss how they can improve their collaboration and communication and find a solution that fits them. And if the team gets stuck, they can always invite an external communication expert.
Therefore, here is a summary once again.
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Advantages of Home Office
- Better work-life balance
- Focused completion of important tasks
- Commute is eliminated, time is gained
- No disruptions from colleagues, e.g., compared to open-plan offices
- Cost reduction
- Positive effect on employer brand
- Promotion of a culture of trust in the company
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Disadvantages of Home Office
- Ability for self-management and thus saying no is necessary
- Negative impact on sense of community because contact with the company/team is limited
- High demands on data security and IT infrastructure
- Information flow is reduced
- Difficult coordination and increased organizational effort
- Risk of self-exploitation and isolation
- Working time control only possible to a limited extent
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