Serious Business Thread: Do you have an office or work remote?
 

Do you have an office or work remote? What do you think the advantages / disadvantages are? I've done both in my time, there are benifits to both.

Discuss.

both

remote as we speak - im looking at a eee-pc cause I work when I can, like most here

tried an office and it didnt work out, i hardly ever went.

most of it from iphone

Both, I get a lot of phone calls at the office and meet with a lot of people that I wouldn't necessarily want coming to my home.

At home, I get quality time and am able to read and think without interruption.

I wish I had a physical office separate from my abode. I'd leave after 8 fucking hours.

Office works best for us

Our operation is remote for the most part, and it works well. That's largely because of the people we have.

Many employees have come and gone already in our companies short lifespan because of being unable to perform to our standards remote, but then again I'm not sure many of them would have done better in office, they just didn't measure up to my standards.

I feel an office is best because everyone is 100x more productive. However, do to the fact that I make a large percent of my income from shooting foreign content, I often have to work from the road, making me not as productive as I should be.

3rd world internet connections, if any at all, do not make for getting a lot of work completed.

half of the people here work from their bedrooms

I have an extra room in my house I turned into an office. I go in there when it is time to work then I shut the door and get to work. I try to treat it like a real office and not leave unless I am done and ready to go just like at a regular job. Some days I do really great and other days I still end up leaving and fucking off.

true dat! At least I do :winkwink:

Same here. Had a six month lease, worked there twice the first week and just paid rent for rest. Finally got rid of it and the wasted expense of internet and rent.

It's better to have everyone in an office but allow some people remote.

Nothing wrong with that as long as they are happy :)

To answer the quest...

I have a big house so both me and my girlfriend can run our companies from this house. Why would I pay 3000 dollars per month for a tiny little office when I have the space here

Mike :thumbsup

I switched back to the strict office routine recently, thought it will help me getting more free time.

At the end I spend even way more time in the office and usually go home just to sleep..

Yet it's always better to solve things in person than remotely.

Having a freedom of choice is invaluable though.

I work in my office, and have 6 employees down here.

Had an office and found I get more done from home. Even with a fridge in the office, you dont keep a full kitchen. So you go out to eat most of the time. That takes time away from work,

I work for the man :(

Just started working remote....getting way more done for sure and can work the 2.5 hours a day i would have been traveling TO work and back. With the right people, I think it's more productive. :winkwink:

I have an actual office, worth every penny to get me to focus.
WG

I work in bedroom too.I realy dont see need for special office,only in case if there is employees.

Your right, I had read they did studies and for the most part workers are more productive and will work longer hours at home than in a office. We do both,The only reason I have a office is 2257.

I was tossing up an office to try to improve my productivity, but in the end I decided against it because I'd have to duplicate everything (workstation, internet link, furniture etc) and I'd inevitably end up having bad days where I just couldn't be bothered going there...

It's still tempting though, it's a suite of small warehouses and they're going cheap because they're new and in oversupply. Could also use it for storage. It's also located only 5 mins drive away.

I setup an office in my dinning room for when I'm working remotely... its great!

But sometimes when things are in a crunch, I have to go to the FC headquarters in Toronto. Its just better when the entire team is there in one physical place.

Hmm, I just found a little storage unit which has an upstairs office for $4k a year... that's nearly cheap enough to throw away if I get bored. :Graucho

I have an office and have had offices for over 8 years now. I think it helps separate the days. I still get some good work done at night at home though.

I work from home so to speak, have a certain room as an "office" though

Worked from home for years and ended up waking up running to the PC and getting off the PC at midnight or later. No personal life at all. Now we have an office and we regulate things a lot better and get way more done. Plus I have time for other things.

Actually we have an office/warehouse, the warehouse has a studio with 5/6 sets in the back. No more porn chicks and BF's at the house, I love it.

Sebs

I prefer to have my coders in house with me, and designers if possible. It's just easier to get things done and explained in person, unless you've got a really good phone relationship with the remote coder. As far as reps and such, I don't really care where they are as they should work on performance basis anyhow. Customer support can go whereever it has to that makes sense. The core group of worker bees I really think get things done more efficiently when they are in the same room. There's none of this ICQing for people not to answer, or emailing to ask a question which gets answered the next day. It prolongs shit when you have the project manager and the people he's managing outside an office.

So,

My opinion is

Inhouse

Project Manager
Coders
Graphics Designers and Web Integrators

Outside

Anyone else that doesnt need direct supervision and can be justified earners to stay on payroll

when i'm in an office i get bored and start poking around. when i'm at home i work hard and focused because i want to get done and hang out with the fam. offices suck

if you have good employees they are going to work for you, regardless of WHERE they are

if you have bad employees they are going to fuck around while you are paying them, regardless of WHERE they are.

it also depends upon the nature of your organization - the more tight knit you operate the closer you need to be. THough a video chat once per morning can really take care of a lot.

i work remote but have the home office to focus
i also travel a few days a week so it keeps me on the move

one type of work I see benefiting from a office and others being around you. Is phone sales,when your smiling and dialing having that synergy of others working around you is a great motivational tool.When I was a recruiter making 100 cold calls a day, when I was in a office it was fun. You would laugh and talk about calls you had and share successes. Doing it alone at home was like being in prison.

I am on the road so much I frequently wonder why I have a house. An office would never get used . . . although I have contemplated getting one on the strand at Venice Beach.

Not true. I work from my moms basement.

Office and home.

I work from home. no need for an office.

Can someone find the thread with the pics of gfy users set ups?

The guys at Slickcash all work in the office except for 2 key players. It works out well, the key is to make sure you have constant communication between departments, as long as you have this you will do great either way.

What did you do recruiting for? I'm doing that from home now, never did it in an office. Hit me up on ICQ please! 169334379

Office is really needed for some things, like coders. If all people involved are serious enough (hard to find these days), everyone working remotelly works if you know at what times you HAVE to be working. I work 24 hours a day, so i work from home, plus i'm constantly available, so office is not for me, as if i had to go to office, the minute i left it, i'd turn of the phone and leave the job aside. Since that doesn't work for me, i work from home, but i'm available 24 hours :)

Damn a lot of response to this poll. I spent ten years working in sales for Fortune 500 companies, while I didn't have to go to the office every day, I did have to be there way more than I wanted to.

A lazy employee will steal your time whether he's at an office or at home, I figure at the end of the day you have to look at their production and go by that.

I work out of my home office, but I think an out of home office might benefit me to help separate work/personal time. Then again, it might just be a needless expense.

I like working in an office just cause when you need to talk to the team you can do it in person and share ideas which takes way less time if you had to do it all in writing or phone.

The 2 criteria for my work as a coder is that it has to be quite without distractions and it has to be separate from my personal life. I'd like to get an office that is close by eventually. I think having 2 different environments will allow me to work while I'm at work and relax when I am at home.

I have an office for my offline job, and work from home with adult1 :)

I work from home. As long as it can be avoided, I would never go back to an office job.

my office has a huge fridge, 40" tv with ps3 xbox and n64, hard to get work done around here

I work out of our main office, but we have remote employees.
I'd get way less done if I was working remote or on the road.

I did recruiting in the gaming industry from director on up.