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Is an Office Still a Necessity?

August 5, 2020

In an age where work-from-home positions are becoming more and more prolific, it’s easy to wonder if you need a central office at all. COVID-19 is proving that a work-from-home model may work better than most people originally thought and stay at home orders forced many companies to create that capability. Work-life balance is a hot topic within any industry right now, and a stay-at-home position is pretty high up on the list of millennial dreams.

The thing is, it’s all too easy to take this too far. For companies of a smaller size, staying spread out can work very well, but only for a time. There are three huge factors that make staying at home every day a detriment to your team.

Face to Face Communication

The larger your team gets, the harder it will be to communicate. It’s an inevitable fact. When you miss out on that daily face-to-face time with each of your team members, it can be easy for something to fall through the cracks. You may communicate an objective to a few team members, with those directives never making their way all the way down the chain of command. It leaves people on your team feeling as if they’re on the outside of the group.

That time spent in the same physical space also breeds creativity like you wouldn’t believe. Instead of having to make a phone call or send an email to see what people think of something, it can be as simple as saying “Hey do you want to walk over here and tell me what you think?” The work will be better, your team will grow closer, and ideas will spring forth that never would have seen the light of day otherwise.

Work/Life Balance

Conversations that take place inside the office are more frequent, shorter, and more efficient. It may sound like a contrarian attitude, but working from an office can actually improve the work/life balance of your team. Going into the office each day can create a clear view of when regular work hours are, something which can become muddled when all of your time is spent at home. If you’re home all the time, you’re technically in the office all the time. Making sure that your team is able to balance their personal and work lives is key to avoiding burnout and keeping morale high.

Complacency

As the head of the Rockstar Capital team, it’s my job to motivate and inspire. I’m the one leading the charge to chase this dream, and if I can’t rub that off on the team and realign our motivation, we won’t get anywhere. If we aren’t with each other each day, that job gets exponentially harder as we grow. Creating a central space for us all to be together gives me a daily opportunity to chat with my team, get to know them, and motivate them.

I hate the idea that getting an office is just a chance to ensure everyone is doing their job, that’s not what we’re trying to do here. I’ve had staff tell me that when they get to see me in person, it energizes them to excel in their position. Creativity, effort, and, most importantly, fun factor all go up.

The work from home model is proven to work, but it isn’t the best solution. Face-to-face time provides a tangible value to your team that cannot be discounted. The Rockstar Capital corporate office is coming soon, but it won’t be like anything else in Houston, because the Rockstar Capital team is unlike any other. We’ll finally have a space for our company culture and drive to run rampant, and the results will be tangible.