Remote Working?

Reddit can be a great source of entertainment, as well as education. Today on the subreddit r/architecture, someone asked, “Why is this profession so opposed to remote working?”

I’m basically an architectural drafter. I spend 99.9 percent of the day in the office alone at my computer, picking up redlines, drafting existing conditions, tagging things, maybe doing a rendering or schematic plan drawing here or there based on notes from an architect. There’s absolutely no reason I couldn’t remote control my desktop and do this from anywhere, yet there are very few architectural positions advertised as remote.

Can somebody tell me the difference between the nature of the work that I do and what a software developer or UX designer does that prevents architecture firms from hiring or allowing remote work? Surely developers and UX designers have to collaborate to talk about design direction and such. Why is it that these companies can manage to hold these meetings digitally but architecture firms seem so entrenched in the idea of the cubicle?

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Is being entirely remote possible? How can we better our culture at the office? This definitely provokes discussion. We thought one of the users made excellent points. And we should perhaps, absorb it as an example to follow.

There’s a middle ground here. Some firms work differently. My office encourages us to work remotely when it makes sense. We don’t even have enough desks for the number of staff we have. If you need to be with a team, you come into the office. If you’re researching something, writing reports, clearing redlines, you work wherever makes sense for you: home, the office, cafe, library, wherever. I’ve worked a lot of places that don’t support this culture, but I’ve found this to be of great benefit. Our sick time has decreased since we started this practice, because people with a cold stay home and work, instead of coming in and infecting us all. People with kids don’t have to take a sick day when their kids get sick, they just work from home. If there’s tension between people, a couple days apart helps reset things.

There’s something in the culture of architecture that says that chaining people to a desk is the only way to maintain productivity. Some firms are starting to see things differently. It’s going to take time for others to catch up, and some never will. If you don’t want to be stuck, start looking for work somewhere that shares your thinking. You’re never going to be 100% remote in this industry (unless you’re a spec writer, they can get away with it). But you can definitely be less tied to an office.

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Able to be a couple days apart is a big selling point I would imagine. Most office politics and/or problems arise from being unable to move away from the tension built because you see each other almost everyday. It’s difficult to be able to take time apart from one another to take a step back and access the situation, to come up with solutions. So having the flexibility and being free from time constraints can really lighten the load.

Remote working can be a great thing when done appropriately and not abused. Self disciplinary and awareness come into play. Is it ultimately for you?