The case for the home office

The home office has been around a long time.  For most people it's a place where they can get away from the rest of the family and pay bills or do some budgeting.  But for a growing number of people it has become their full time work space.  A replacement for the boring drab sandy brown cubicle that's found in a million office buildings around the world.  I'm here to tell you that the home office is better than any office I've ever worked in. 

Since its inception, Plain Black made the business decision that all its employees would work from home and that there would be no need for a formal office environment.  This could be the single most important decision in the history of Plain Black.  

What does it mean for the company?  The obvious answer is money.  Of course it saves money, because Plain Black doesn't have to pay all the overhead that comes with owning or renting an office space.  There's the cost of the space itself, all the furniture, the lights, the internet connection—the list goes on and on.  But there's one more thing that's infinitely more important.  It means Plain Black can hire anyone in the world to do anything it needs.  Plain Black doesn't pick potential employees from the pool located in and around Madison.  It picks from applicants everywhere.  The pool is that much larger, that much more experienced, and that much more knowledgeable.  If you're a growing company, wouldn't you want to pick the best talent, rather than the best talent in your area?  Some of you may be saying, well you could just move them up to Madison.  We could, but why is that necessary?  Why spend the money if you don't have to, and what if your talent doesn't want to move?  

Let's look at the benefits to the employee.  The first for the employee is the same as the employer, money.  Who doesn't want to save a few bucks in gas by walking down the hall to your office rather than driving in?  Who wouldn't like a nice tax deduction from all the utilities and space that's used for true business purposes?  Those are pretty big financial gains right there, but they aren't the only things.  

How about a nice quiet work space, free from the background noise of phones ringing, elevators dinging, people milling around, and any number of conversations being carried on around you?  Those are the harsh realities of a normal office space and "cubical farm".  They detract from productivity and accuracy because they are impossible to block out completely.  

For those who wonder how you can manage your employee's productivity when you can't look over the cubicle wall to "see" that they're working, I'll insult you and say that you're a terrible manager.  If someone looking busy is all it takes for you to believe they are working productively, then you're not doing your job well enough and perhaps you could benefit from the home office.  As a manager, the home office forces you to focus on the true output of an employee and gauge their performance on that, rather than on some other artificial means, like whether they are talking on the phone too much or talking with their neighbor too often, or taking too many bathroom breaks.  If they're getting their work done on time and accurately, who cares what else they're doing?

For me, the benefits of the home office far outweigh any negatives.  Plain Black uses it and will continue to use it.   I think a few more businesses could do well to look at the home office as a legitimate cost savings method in a time when many businesses are failing because of old and outdated practices.

I can't imagine going back to an office and sharing a space with 100 of my closest co-workers.