Working from Home: Friend or Foe? An Optimists Perspective

I had dinner recently with a very smart friend who runs a 60-person proprietary trading firm. The majority of his staff had been working from home throughout the pandemic and we were discussing how that was going for him and what effects that has had on the culture and success of the firm.

I mentioned that I guessed it was tough for the entry-level employees not to have in-person mentorship and what he replied was eye opening. He said that WFH made his organization “more flat” which gave every employee more access to him and to other team leaders. The most junior employees were on calls and Zoom meetings with him and were able to have much more interaction than they ever would have had in the office. These employees got the coveted “face time” with the boss that they likely would have had to wait years to get and were able to see and participate in company-wide meetings that likely would not have been able to take place in the office. 

My friend stated that WFH hasn’t affected his ability to do business at all. His company hired and continued to grow throughout the pandemic and he isn’t planning on having employees come back unless they want to. Many of the junior employees WILL be back because they do miss the camaraderie of the office, but there is no mandate to return. It will be years until social scientists and experts analyze the effects of the pandemic on the workplace, but in this case, these has been one positive outcome.

How was your pandemic WFH experience been? What’s been the best part?