Noise kills productivity
Working in a noisy environment is disturbing
One of the main differences I have noticed in the digital nomad life is the silent work.
I worked in a typical newsroom with hundreds of journalists, conversations all the time, and the TV turned up loud on 24-hour news channels.
It was tough to go back to face-to-face in 2022. With all these noises and distractions, it was complicated for me to concentrate. Accomplishing each task was a homeric mission.
Now silence reigns most of the time. There are moments when I feel the opposite necessity: going to a cafe to have contact with a little movement. Much better to be able to choose.
Some colleagues liked face-to-face work and thought they were more productive. I imagine it's true. But some people function better remotely.
Getting the best out of these two worlds should be a concern for companies. They need to understand that forcing the face-to-face for something that could be done remotely will make the employee unhappy and unproductive, which is terrible for them.
I have a story along these lines. I was a social media editor for a journalistic vehicle. Big events have always been important.
My team needed to follow the World Cup games to post on the networks in real-time and find out what was going viral and becoming a meme.
But there were few TVs in the newsroom. Not everyone could watch it, and the noise made it difficult to hear the transmission. The alternative, following through streaming on the computer, wasn't as good either: streaming transmits with a delay of about 30 seconds.
I asked the company to consider remote work on World Cup days. The proposal was denied.
Remote work could sound like an excuse to watch the games for reporters from other sections who were not directly involved in covering the competition. It was not the case for my team. Our productivity increased from home because we could watch the games without interruptions, noise, or delays.
One of this newsletter's objectives is to defend the flexibility of the work regime. Do you have a similar story? Share in the comments.
