3 Downsides Of A Remote-Only Business

At the moment, there’s a fair tug-of-war going on between those who enjoy heading to a premises to work each day, and those who prefer working at home and going fully remote. Of course, some people are biased in one direction or another – a person with mobility issues may cherish the ability to work from home when they can, while someone whose entire revenue comes from leasing commercial spaces is likely going to be against it.

The truth is that like with anything, there are pros and cons to both attitudes. It seems that most businesses have adopted something of a mix-and-match model – they may allow people to work from home on Fridays for example, or allow for employees to travel and work when needed. It’s fair to say that the benefits of remote work are well-documented at this point. But in order to be wise in the business space, and to be fair to any new normal, it’s wise to understand the downsides.

This means that if you’re looking to launch your own business, you can potentially use such insight to help structure your own take on things. Let us help with the following advice:

Losing Out On Local Culture

Most offices or businesses don’t hire people from the exact same town, some might even live an hour or more away, and so a physical space is like a centralized place and means to identify your brand anew. It’s true that if everyone is remote, or if you’re not connected to a certain space, that kind of cultural connection is missing. No matter if it’s Shoreditch or the Bronx, or a quaint litlte Northren town, being part of the life of the area can help you gain a loyal customer base and more easily take part in local activities, perhaps sponsoring sports teams or engaging with festivals and more. It’s a benefit worth thinking about.

Limited Meeting Opportunities

Sure, we have video calls now, but they’re not quite the same as bumping into someone in the hallway and solving a problem on the spot. Remotely, certain quick five-minute chats that clear up confusion immediately turn into scheduled meetings that might not happen until next week. Sometimes the best ideas come from random conversations that just happen naturally when people share a space.

Online meetings work fine for planned discussions still of course, yet they can’t capture those spontaneous moments when someone overhears a problem they know how to fix or an office joke can help you reveal something. That said, renting a reliable space from a service such as thebrew.co.uk can help you gain professional temporary spaces and especially for important client meetings, so you can always balance your approach.

Lesser Team Cohesion

Even the most ardent WFH’er has to admit that teams just feel different when everyone’s scattered across different locations. It’s harder to build that natural rhythm you get when people work side by side, for instance, someone might be struggling with a project but nobody notices because they’re not there to see the frustrated sighs or confused looks. New team members might take longer to feel like they really belong too, as it’s tough to build strong connections through a screen.

Unfortunately, even those simple things like figuring out when someone’s having a rough day and needs extra support become more challenging when you can’t pick up on those subtle in-person cues. This isn’t to say all teams are like a family, but having people around can make the likelihood of cooperation a little higher.