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Does Remote Work Ruin Your Career? Digest No. 2 |
Remote work is a hot debate lately. With many companies recalling their employees back to the office, it begs the question if remote work will stay. Ultimately, each company is going to be different but I don’t see remote work going away anytime soon. There are plenty of benefits in favor of staying remote. For companies, the talent pool opens up tremendously. Productivity can increase and employee happiness and satisfaction can be higher overall. For the employees, you can ditch those long commutes. My commute in Chicago was 45 minutes each way, and sometimes longer. It was awful. You’ll have greater control of your day-to-day life with a flexible schedule. Need to run an errand during the day? No problem. You can makeup time on your own schedule as necessary. But… If you build a career as a designer on remote work, you’re missing out on one of the most important aspects of growth — relationship building. The relationships you build at companies are invaluable. If you’re creating genuine authentic relationships with your peers, you’re setting yourself apart. I travel from Detroit to Atlanta about every other month for a week for in-person collaboration, meeting with our Head of Product, Engineering, and Marketing. During my trip last week, I had the opportunity to meet more of our investors and board. It was great to have conversations about work and life. I was able to get to know people on a personal level. From their mountain bike adventures to road trips. This would never happen if I was “100%” remote. We’re human and thrive on connections. It would be a disservice to your career to not build those relationships and can impact your career growth if you’re looking to go up as a manager, director, or VP. And while remote networking is possible and has the potential to move the need for your career, it’s not quite the same when you do it in person. Every time I travel I seem to learn something new from my colleagues which helps me be a better designer and creative leader. And you might miss out on the perfectly timed "triple handshake". How this happened I have no idea, but it somehow did. So if you’re considering a job move, think about the possibility of a hybrid schedule or those companies out there that offer to fly in there team from time to time. It might just help your career more than you think. |
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