When I sit down with a candidate for the first time and I
ask them to describe their perfect role, it is increasingly common that remote
working/working from home will be high on the wishlist. Along with unlimited holidays, contributory pensions
and free gym membership, this desire does seem to be on the up and the benefits
of a work laptop and free fruit in the office just don’t cut it anymore.
When I launched PMP just over 7 years ago, I knew I didn’t want to build an Empire, had
no desire to be the next Michael Page (shudders...) and actually the idea of
working from home for most of the time was quite appealing. I’d moved to the countryside, had done 10
years in Manchester and was ready to embrace remote working. I’m very lucky as it happens. Recruitment is
an industry where you need a computer, a database, the internet and a phone
(brain, personable manner, capacity for hard
work & persistence, luck, modesty etc
are all pre-requisites too) my point being that you don’t actually
physically need to be in an office, particularly if you’re a one woman
recruitment supremo
In a typical week, I’ll spend one or possibly two days in
Manchester and a day in Leeds. On these days, I’ll meet candidates and clients and
work out of coffee shops, hotel foyers, art galleries and theatres. If you ever need a recommendation for the
best wifi spots or public toilets in these cities, then I’m your woman. I’m always on hand to meet a candidate at a
venue of their choice which can often take me to pastures new (e.g. Wetherspoons
in Piccadilly was particularly memorable....was the only place the candidate
could be sure no-one would see them).
The rest of the time, I work from home.
I’m often at my desk at 0600 and feel like I’ve done a full day of work
by 0900 but that often means I can go and ride my bike for an hour or so during
the day so I avoid working bonkers hours.
I have an unhealthy knowledge of the daytime TV schedule and often time
indoor bike sessions with A place in the Sun whilst I fantasise about even more
remote working opportunities....
I suppose that all
sounds great. Until you’ve been doing it
for 7 years. For me personally the benefits of my PMP lifestyle far outweigh
the negatives. But the key negative is a
big one and shouldn’t be ignored. The
cut and thrust of office life, the banter, even the politics – after a while,
you miss it. I live vicariously through the
office life of my husband and overshare with candidates when I’m chatting to
them on the phone. I talk to the wall
and I have an imaginary dog (Thomas). People who work from home are always the most
commonly found on Social Media and it’s a real distraction, as is the Daily
Mail Online and the sidebar of shame.
In a real office, you’re forced to talk to real people, to communicate
regularly. You learn how to delegate,
how to compromise and you really do benefit from that. I always thought I wouldn’t miss those
aspects of office life but after a few years, you really do.
In all the coffee shops, hotel foyers etc, I’m surrounded by
other ‘home workers’. People perhaps who
don’t want to work in an office but don’t want to work from home either. For four years (really!) in the Cafe Nero on
Portland Street in Manchester, I sat next to the same guy every Wednesday
morning, we’d make eye contact as we opened our respective laptops and give a
small shrug. One day we got chatting, it
turned out he was a freelance web developer who made his one coffee last all
morning so he got out of the house. I ended up finding him a job – a permanent
one, in an office and now I don’t see him anymore.
So, to return to my original point. Remote working is often requested but in the
majority of agencies, particularly for client services staff and Creatives, it’s
just not appropriate. Whilst on the one
hand, clients require regular contact, which can be done from anywhere, it’s
the internal activity, brainstorming, working with Creatives, reviewing a
brief, pulling a pitch together – all these things are best done working in a
team, together. I think the best balance
to hope for is potentially one day a month of remote working which allows you
to miss out the commute for a day, to be in for deliveries and to catch up on
emails. But I bet for a lot of people,
that if they tried it all day, every day for more than 3 months, you’d have to
start drawing up your pros and cons list.
I think it’s also necessary to ask yourself really how
disciplined you are too. I know several
recruiters who have a similar business model to mine and they have made the point
of renting office space – it gets them out of the house, gives them a start
time and an end time to the working day and forces them to get dressed. I don’t have a problem with any of that, if
anything, I work harder and longer hours than ever, but they are flexible
hours. In recruitment, it can work. I’m
not sure in a creative agency environment that it can.
Most of my agency clients would only consider any level of
remote working after an employee has earned their trust that the job could be
efficiently and effectively performed out of the office. If you can present a justified case to your
employer and ask perhaps for a trial period to test out perhaps one day a week
over a three month period, that should allow you – and them, to see if it is
feasible in the long term. I also advise
caution when asking for a 4 day week... I’ve got a lot of anecdotal evidence
from candidates that a 4 day week equates to
4 days in the office, one day from home – all clients ask that you’re
available by phone and email on your home day and often individuals feel short
changed as they are paid a day less but they don’t actually have a day
off. Just something to consider...
But do consider the pros and cons carefully. The loss of personal contact on a daily basis
is something that is potentially damaging to mental health so weigh everything
up in your own personal equation and quest for work life balance and then make
a pitch to your employer.
I might eventually get a real dog.
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