In-Office or Remote: Which Work Location Option Is Right for You?
Staples.com is wondering the same thing you might be wondering. (The same thing I might be wondering, too. But I’m actually not. I hate working in an office. Doesn’t everyone?)
During the COVID pandemic, some companies have been offering their employees “the option to work in the office, at home, or a hybrid of the two”. This assumes that the company still has an office and didn’t go bankrupt since March 2020.
It also assumes you’re not working as a housekeeper in the tourism industry — a job that poses certain challenges, if you’re trying to do it from home.
Nevertheless, Staples has assembled together a 14-question quiz to help you discover which work option is the best choice for you.
Since the beginning of the modern office, employers have traditionally enforced a rigid 9-to-5 office schedule, believing that it was the only way to function effectively. Then, when COVID-19 hit, many companies transitioned to remote work — and for many, the outcome was positive. The majority of employees adapted well, and some were even thriving and increasing their levels of productivity.
If you work in an office, your employer may have recently given you the option to choose whether you work from the office, your home, or a combination of the two. If you aren’t sure which option will be best for your professional and personal life, take our quiz below to find out which work option suits you best!
You can take the quiz here.
If you have already decided, however, that this quiz is probably a big waste of time (as some of us have) or if you are working from home and would rather waste your time on Facebook, checking in with friends from high school who you haven’t seen in 30 years, instead of taking a silly quiz, then you might enjoy the following comments about some of the Staples quiz questions.
Since we’re wasting time anyway.
5. Are you easily distracted by co-workers?
How do we define “easily”? Speaking for myself, I’m sometimes distracted by the potted plants in my living room.
I also get distracted by my iPhone, when it’s not ringing. I keep looking at it, and checking to see if the ringer is turned off. Why is no one calling me?
So I think this question is confusing. Does it count as “distraction” if my boss wakes me up from a catnap? (This can happen even remotely, we might remember.)
10. Do you have the IT skills to fix your own computer issues?
No, not exactly. But I have a hammer, and I know how to use it.
14. Could you effectively participate in important meetings virtually?
That depends. Are we assuming that I have to leave the ‘video’ turned on? Because I can effectively accomplish a lot of things during a one-hour Zoom meeting, if no one can see what I’m actually doing.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.