Working from home has become a common benefit offered by employers to employees in companies of all sizes and most industries. One Gallup survey found that 43% of Americans work from home occasionally. We have a small office here at Explore, so I don’t want to change our culture to a remote one, but a day or two per month of work from home is great if it helps with productivity and one’s happiness.
Temperature, lighting, color and noise all factor into productivity at work. So does sitting on your ass (foreshadowing) all day. All stats and research aside, I think whatever it takes to keep the mind free and body comfortable is a good thing, as long as its also beneficial to the collective and not just the individual. If somebody wants to work in a silo and alone all the time, that’s great, but they won’t be a good fit for our shop. With that said, I think everyone needs their alone time and if working from home periodically is the answer, that’s fantabulous.
I worked from home the first three years of the existence of Explore Communications and I got a kick out of telling clients and media reps that I hadn’t showered in a day or three and I was currently in my boxers and a t-shirt that I may or may not have slept in the last night (or three). They’d laugh like I was kidding while I was sniffing my armpits and I’d chuckle too – they thought because we had a funny together when in reality it was my amusement with the impressive scale of my odor.
I went legit and got office space after three years of starting my company and that certainly helped my personal hygiene as well. For some reason, answering the door to FedEx in my boxers at home is different than doing it at the office. Not to mention the odor. Working from home? Been there, done that.
My desire to get out of the office is simply just that. A yearning for a change of environment to shake things up. I love our office. I think its cooler than most creative shops I’ve been at, much less other small businesses in other industries. But I still need to get out. Take this blog for example. I started it three hours ago at River North Brewery in RiNo. I was interrupted by a buddy for a couple hours and have since relocated to Black Shirt Brewing Company so I could order a pie while I got back to ‘work.’
Breweries are a great place to get shit done. I’ve also camped out working at coffee shops, restaurants, patios, parks and one time, I helped close some new business from a hammock at Siesta Beach in Sarasota (Mindy did 99% of the closing, to be fair).
Working from a hammock on a beach is quite awesome, but honestly, I’d much rather be at 3213 Zuni Street in Denver (yes, that’s the Explore Communications address, duh) than anywhere else during my work week. I love the interaction and banter with co-workers. I like bringing my energy to my peeps and feeding off of theirs. I’m proud of our space and I’m proud of our company and I’m humbled by getting to work in a such an inspiring environment.
But sometimes a change of physical environment is a nice reset. And it can also lead to unexpected great things. Like my buddy that I haven’t seen for two years walking in and having a two-hour conversation about everything from love, parenting, beer; and to my personal delight and delusion, learning about his devotion to keeping his butthole very clean. The corona virus toilet paper run led somewhere I could not have ever imagined if I hadn’t changed my work environment for the afternoon.
This blog has been brought to you by Explore Communications, River North Brewing Company, Black Shirt Brewing Company and Steve’s sterile butthole. Cheers.