Many people these days choose to work remotely. They don’t want to drive to work. They don’t like the office environment. I don’t blame them. I am the same way. But, for certain types of work, particularly outsourcing tasks such as Data Entry, Call Center, BPO, etc., it is more effective when everyone is under the same roof.
I recently hired a software company based in Arizona. They have teams in various parts of India and a few parts of America. They have a very strong programmer who works remotely. Yes, he has his own office, but it is not under the same roof as corporate headquarters which are probably out of someone’s house (who knows). In any case, when he doesn’t answer his phone, there is nobody next to him to nudge him. If he were in an office, someone would track him down, go to his desk and tell him to PICK UP!
So, here is a summary of reasons to have your team under one roof.
(1) You can nudge someone who doesn’t pick up the phone
(2) You know if someone came to work that day
(3) It is easy to coordinate meetings because everyone is already there (although they might have conflicting things to do during the meeting time).
(4) If they are managing others or being managed by others, it is easier if they are all under the same roof.
(5) It looks more professional to clients who might want to visit you.
Sure, it is hard to get a bunch of people all in the same place. But, running an outsourcing business is hard, and you need all of the advantages you can get. Being under one roof offers many advantages — unless that one roof is leaking!