The Pull of the Office…

When I founded this firm in 1990, essentially as a sole practitioner, I asked myself whether I needed an office or if it would be more prudent to save a few bucks and work from home.   This has been a newsworthy question of late, following the announcement by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer that the company’s historically freewheeling employees will no longer be allowed to telecommute.

In Ms. Mayer’s case, her decision is part of an ambitious effort to right a sinking ship; whereas, in my case, the decision was more about how best to launch a considerably smaller vessel and keep it seaworthy for the long voyage.

I opted for office space, beginning with a single office in a shared suite with a communal conference room, kitchen and other amenities.  As the client and employee lists grew, so did our office needs, eventually leading to the space we have now occupied for close to a dozen years.

For me, after so many years, working at the office IS much like working at home.  This is my home for at least eight hours a day, and we have worked hard to make it a space for comfortable collaboration with an atmosphere that instills confidence in our clients and prospects.

We are not, however, inflexible; if one of us really needs to focus on a project, attend to a personal matter or nurse a head cold, we work from home.  But on those days when I work from home – my real home – I eventually feel the pull of the office. 

Now, I have many friends and clients who only work from home and wouldn’t have it any other way.  But for me, I need my office for all kinds of reasons:

• It puts me in work mode.  When I arrive at the office each morning, I am there to work.
• The office holds few of the distractions and temptations readily available at home.
• Home remains home (even if I do spend a lot of evenings and weekends working there, too).
• I am close to my colleagues.  If I need a sounding board, my best sources are just a few feet away.
• I have an obligation to oversee our work product and be available as a consultant to our team.
• I am committed to always being accessible to our clients. I can do that best from the office.
• If I need to get away from work to clear my head, I have all of downtown Chicago just outside.

I happily admit that I love going to work every day and I love our offices.  I want to hear the phones ringing, my colleagues working together, our clients being served.  In many ways, I guess I do work at home.

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