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-date = 2022-02-10
-title = "Leaving Office-Based Work in the Past"
-description = "My thoughts on the current surge of remote work and what that means for full-time office-based roles."
-+++
-
-## The Working World is Changing
-
-There has been a trend for the past few years of companies slowly
-realizing that the pandemic is not just a temporary state that will go
-away eventually and let everything return to the way it was before. In
-terms of business and employment, this means that more and more jobs are
-being offered as permanently remote roles.
-
-I had always dreamt of working from home but thought of it as a fantasy,
-especially since I did not want to move over into the software
-development field. However, I have found that almost all roles being
-sent to me via recruiters are permanently remote (although most are
-limited to US citizens or even region-locked for companies who only
-operate in select states).
-
-I decided to take a look back at my relatively short career so far and
-compare the positive and negative effects of the different work
-environments I've been in.
-
-## In-Person Offices
-
-### Retail Internship
-
-I started my first job as a management intern at a busy retail pharmacy,
-working my 40-hour weeks on my feet. As these retail stores don't
-believe in resting or sitting down, you can guarantee that you will
-spend entire shifts standing, walking, or running around the store.
-Unfortunately, I worked at a time when our store didn't have enough
-managers, so I spent the majority of my tenure at the store running and
-breaking a sweat.
-
-Now, things aren't all bad in retail stores like this. It is definitely
-tiring and inefficient to force employees to work constantly, or pretend
-to work if there's nothing to do, and not allow anyone to sit down.
-However, if you are able to operate a retail store with a limited crew
-and provide enough comfort and support, I believe these jobs could be
-both comfortable and efficient.
-
-### Semi-Private Cubicles
-
-![Semi-Private
-Cubicles](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20220210-leaving-office-based-work-in-the-past/private_cubicles.png)
-
-After about a year, I was able to find another internship - this time,
-it was in my field of interest: internal auditing. This was for a life
-insurance company that was well over 100 years old. The age of the
-company shows if you work there, as most people in management are well
-into their 40s-60s with little to no youthful leadership in the company.
-Likewise, they owned a large headquarters in a nice area of town with
-plenty of space, parking, etc.
-
-One upside is that each person gets their own large L-shaped desk,
-formed into cubicles that house 4 desks/employees. These "pods" of
-4-person cubicles are linked throughout each floor of the headquarters
-(except the sales people, who had that open-floor concept going on). The
-walls of the cubicle were tall and provided a lot of privacy and
-sound-proofing, except when I used the standing desk feature (I'm over
-6 feet tall, so probably not an issue for most people).
-
-I loved this environment, it allowed me to focus on my work with minimal
-distractions, but also allowed easy access, so I could spin around in my
-chair and chat with my friends without leaving my chair. This is the
-closest I've been to a home office environment (which is my personal
-favorite, as I'll get to later in this post).
-
-### Semi-Open Floor Concept
-
-![Semi-Open Floor
-Concept](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20220210-leaving-office-based-work-in-the-past/semi_open_office.png)
-
-When I shifted to my first full-time internal audit job out of college,
-I was working at a company that was headquartered on a floor in a
-downtown high-rise building. The company was only about 20 years old
-when I worked there and were trying a lot of new things to attract young
-talent, one of which was a semi-open floor concept for the office. My
-department worked just around the hallway corner from the executive
-offices and used that "modern" layout young tech companies started
-using in the 2000s/2010s.
-
-Each desk was brief, and you could look most coworkers in the face
-without moving from your chair, I hated this so much. Directly to my
-left was the Chief Audit Executive (our department's leading boss), and
-his desk was pointed so that his face would stare straight at my desk
-all day. I spent more time thinking about who was looking at me or
-checking on me than actually working.
-
-The other annoying part of the open concept they used was that the
-kitchen area and pathways were too close to everyone's desks (since the
-desks were spread out, to provide space or something), so noise and
-conversation would be constant throughout the day while you try to work.
-For someone like me, who needs silence to get work done, that was a
-non-starter.
-
-### Hotel Office Concept
-
-![Hotel Office
-Concept](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20220210-leaving-office-based-work-in-the-past/hotel_desks.png)
-
-I currently work for a company remotely (for now) and travel to the
-office every once in a while for events and to help coach the staff
-underneath me. The office I visit uses the hotel desk concept, where you
-need to check in at a touch screen when you enter the office and
-"rent" a desk for the day. The same goes for offices and meeting
-rooms.
-
-These desks are flat-top only and do not have any walls at all. In
-addition, they're stacked with one row of 4 desks facing another row of
-4 desks. These pairs of desk rows are repeated through the office.
-
-This means that when I go, I need to rent a random desk or try to
-remember the unique ID numbers on desks I like. Once I rent it, I have
-to make sure no one sat down in that desk without renting it. Then, I
-can sit down and work, but will probably need to adjust the monitors so
-that I'm not staring in the face of the person across from me all day.
-Finally, I need to wear headphones as this environment does nothing to
-provide you with peace or quiet.
-
-Luckily, you can rent offices with doors that offer quiet and privacy,
-which can be very nice if you have a lot of meetings or webinars on a
-certain day.
-
-## Home Office
-
-![Home
-Office](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20220210-leaving-office-based-work-in-the-past/home_office.png)
-
-Okay, now let's finally get to the home office concept. I have worked
-from home for a little over two years at this point, across three
-different jobs/employers. Over this time, I have experimented with a
-plethora of different organizational ideas, desks, and room layouts to
-find what works best for me.
-
-These things might not apply to you, and that's fine. Everyone has a
-different situation, and I really don't think you'll know what works
-until you try.
-
-### Tip #1
-
-Let's start with my top rule for a home office:
-
-> If you live with others, working in a shared space is not effective.
-
-It just does not work. If you have another person sleeping in your
-bedroom, it is difficult to manage your work schedule with their
-sleeping/work/school schedule. If they wake up after you need to start
-work, you might wake them up or have to suffer the agony of staring at
-bright screens in a dark room.
-
-In a similar vein, working from a location such as the living room
-likely won't work either. Distractions will come far more frequently:
-televisions, cooking, cleaning, deliveries, etc. If you're like me,
-you'll end up playing a game instead of actually doing any work.
-
-### Tip #2
-
-Okay, the second thing I've discovered that works for me:
-
-> Use the pomodoro method (or something similar) to balance work tasks
-> with personal tasks.
-
-I use a very casual version of the pomodoro method where I will work for
-1-2 hours (usually set in strict intervals like 1, 1.5, 2 hours) and
-then will allow myself 30-60 minutes for personal tasks. This schedule
-works for me, since my work schedule really only comes to 3-6 hours of
-work per day.
-
-In this case, I'll work through my list of tasks for an hour or two and
-then give myself personal time to get drinks and food, wash dishes, put
-clothes in the washer, get the mail, etc. If you're in a convenient
-location, this usually gives time for things like getting groceries (as
-long as you're not a slow shopper).
-
-### Tip #3
-
-While I listed this one as number three, I don't think I'd accomplish
-anything without it:
-
-> Document everything: even things you didn't before - such as task
-> lists and notes from casual calls or meetings.
-
-I've noticed that staying in an office gave me more constant reminders
-of outstanding tasks or facts I had learned in a conversation.
-Translating everything to a digital world has made me lose a bit of that
-focus (perhaps since I don't have visual reminders?).
-
-Keeping a running task list of all things I have to do - even potential
-tasks! - has helped me keep up without missing anything small. Likewise,
-keeping notes for ALL meetings and calls, no matter how casual/quick,
-has improved my retention immensely. Beyond helping my mental
-recollection, it has saved me numerous times when I need to do a keyword
-search for some topic that was discussed 6+ months ago.
-
-### Tip #4
-
-Okay, last one for now.
-
-> Keep your work area clean.
-
-This one is straightforward, but I know some people struggle with
-cleanliness or may not believe it makes a difference. Trust me, keeping
-your desk area clean and organized makes a huge difference, both
-mentally and emotionally.
-
-Just think about it, you walk into your home office and see a clean desk
-with a laptop, dock, monitors, keyboard, mouse, and a notepad with a pen
-on top.
-
-Now imagine the opposite, there's an office with the same equipment,
-but there are clothes hanging on the chair, empty drink bottles, candy
-wrappers and dirty plates. This can take both a mental and emotional
-toll by bringing constant disarray and stress into your working
-environment.
-
-Just keep things clean each day, and you won't need to do any big
-cleaning days to recover.
-
-## My Preferences
-
-I've talked about the different environments I've worked in and
-expressed some honest thoughts on pros or cons to each, but what do I
-prefer? Well, if you're reading along, you should be able to tell that
-I much prefer a home office above all else.
-
-Being able to control my own day and allot my time as needed has brought
-a calmness to my life and has allowed me to maximize each day. I feel
-far more effective and efficient in a home office than any other office,
-especially open-office layouts.
-
-If I do need to return to an office part-time in the future, I really
-hope the office will have privacy and quietness in order for me to get
-my work done.
-
-Cubicles are good! I agree with Alice (from the comic Dilbert):
-
-![Dilbert comic
-strip](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20220210-leaving-office-based-work-in-the-past/dilbert_120109.png)