Why we decided to close our office
At Appbot we’ve always had a hybrid of work from home and in the office. Initially, we started with one day a week from home, then we move to two days, then three days. Different members of our team had different preferences, some took up all three days, others came in most days.
Like everyone else, when COVID-19 hit we closed the office for a few weeks. We have been very lucky so far in Perth, Australia to not have a lockdown for extended periods. We have only had lockdown a few weeks here and there.
Having already been partially remote meant we were all pretty set up to work from home. Many of our team really enjoyed working from home full time, a number choosing not to return to the office at all after the lockdown lifted. They enjoy going to the gym at lunchtime, or dropping their kids at school in the mornings, or reclaiming the commute time for themselves. Some people even like to take two lunch breaks (looking at you Hooky 😂).
One of our core values at Appbot is Balance, and working from home lets us fulfil that value.
Balance
We think life isn’t all about work. A good work-life balance is important for our mental health, families and the quality of output from our jobs.
The COVID-19 lockdowns gave us the confidence to start hiring remotely. Since then, we’ve hired multiple people in New Zealand and one in Brisbane. Hiring remotely meant we started thinking a lot about how we make everyone feel equally important. Moving the Perth-based team to work remotely democratises our work environment.
With our lease coming up for renewal we decided to really give some thought to the office. Here’s what we came up with:
- Since March 2020 the office has been operating at less than 15% utilisation.
- Having a mixed environment of remote and in-office team members is a challenge to make everyone feel equally valued.
- When we have online meetings, even when multiple are in the office, we have been trying to stick with a one screen per person rule. This gives everyone an equal voice and presence in the meetings.
- We started looking for smaller offices, totally managed offices and everything in between. Nothing felt right.
- We surveyed our Perth team on their preferences for the office and their plans for the future. Everyone was very open to going fully work from home, or work from home with regular catchups.
After we weighed all this up, we decided to give fully remote a go.
Here are some other things we are going to do:
- More regular all-hands calls
- Claire and I are still going to get together regularly to chat things over
- Encourage regular coffee catchups for those that want to
I think there’s an opportunity for co-working spaces to have more 1, 2 or 3 people offices fully set up desk (monitors, charge cables, keyboards etc) that can be hired on an ad-hoc basis. We would definitely use it.
We are pretty confident it’s going to work well for us. Worst-case scenario we can always get an office again in the future.
Got any suggestions? Let me know on Twitter.
About The Author
Stuart is the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Appbot. You can connect with him on Twitter.
