By Paula Gomprecht | April 16, 2020

What will your next workspace look like?

For many of you, you’ve recently been thrown into the deep end of a remote-working environment.  No gradual transition, no training, no choice.  For some professional Americans, time management has been optimized by evading a long commute, comfortable work from home setups, or flexible hours.  For others, it’s simply been a disaster trying to balance work, family, finances, and homeschool.  Either way, the mandates to work virtually will undoubtedly change how we work forever.

Before you jump into the next phase of work, lean on our experience as remote work experts to raise some questions you may—or may not—have considered.

Meetings

New challenges have emerged around conducting and participating in meetings while working from home.  Never-before considerations like proper lighting, reduction of background noise, and high-speed Wi-Fi are now part of your pre-flight checklist. (Important only to the meetings that haven’t been canceled, now that we’re embolden to admit some were a waste of time.) When you’re ready for in-person meetings to resume outside the home, find a workspace that enhances your professional image, and meets corporate standards for professionalism and efficiency.

Online Privacy

Home Wi-Fi got you down? For those of you with multiple people simultaneously working from home networks, you’ve experienced the frustration of a slow connection. And security risks posed by logging into an open network are a real concern. Compliant Wi-Fi used to be a given for clients relying on confidentiality, and wireless threat protection and private VLAN configurations consistently passed pass the scrutiny of your IT and Compliance teams. Regardless of where you work, ensure your online privacy, and your data, are protected.

Collaborative Spontaneity 

While you can brainstorm with your spouse and children about your next campaign or product launch, it’s just not the same as water-cooler talk.  Bouncing ideas off peers who are interested in a business’s growth, industry trends, and thought leadership is something many of us didn’t know we would miss until it was gone. Be safe and stay home now; but get ready to once again enjoy the power of serendipitous, in-person encounters between contemporaries.

Commuting

Chances are, you don’t miss your commute. Whether it’s too long or too crowded, makes you late or makes you anxious, nowadays there is undoubtedly less traffic in your life. Once you find a workspace in a suburban or urban market near you, the potential to refute the commute will be liberating.  Close to home but not at home? Truly the best of both worlds.

For most companies six weeks ago, a remote-ready business model was simply an edge on the competition.  Now it’s the bare essential to keep the lights on. And when we, as organizations and individuals, better understand the full extent of our recently gained capabilities and limitations, remote work will be widely normalized. Companies are already planning for how we return to the workplace after stay at home orders are lifted, allowing you to thrive and giving you peace of mind.

Are you?