stories of IT specialists who are not suited to remote work

One of the advantages of the IT sphere, which attracts people with a wide variety of backgrounds, is the opportunity to work remotely. Flexible hours, a comfortable home environment, saving time and money on travel, the opportunity to work in another city or country, combining work with study and raising children – all this makes remote work attractive to many. But despite the obvious advantages, not everyone takes advantage of it – even after the pandemic, when employees, employers, recruiters, and public opinion have gotten used to remote work. We will tell you why this is so, and talk to those who are in no hurry to change their office chair for a home workplace.

Welcome to the new reality: offices are more popular than remote work

More than 50% Russian IT employers give employees the opportunity to work from home. For many, this is an undeniable competitive advantage, but some job seekers continue to consider vacancies with office placement. After a rapid rise caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the boom in remote work in Russia has become gradually decline.

In 2023–24, 3–4 years after the mass transition to remote work, many companies began to reconsider their strategies, reducing the number of vacancies with permanent remote work. There are several reasons for this.

The first problem is reduced productivity remote employees. Despite all the advantages of the remote format, not everyone manages to maintain high productivity. The lack of live communication, constant distractions at home and unclear boundaries between work and personal life can lead to a decrease in motivation and results.

I tried working in different formats and realized that pure remote work is not my thing. It is difficult to draw a line between work and personal life from home. There was even a joke during the Covid times: it is time to stop calling it work from home and call it directly – life at work. During the pandemic, of course, I adapted to this. But then I started taking breaks and going outside. Then I found another life hack – I signed up for training, and also had to finish at a specific time to rest a little. Now I prefer a hybrid schedule, when on some days you can work from home, on others – from the office.

Alexander, system administrator in a data center, St. Petersburg

The second difficulty is control for remote employees. Employers are faced with the need to develop new methods for assessing productivity and tracking workflow. The difficulty of establishing trust with a remote team and ensuring transparency of all tasks also poses certain difficulties.

Hiring a person for remote work is much easier than hiring someone for the office: you can consider candidates from other cities who are not ready to move soon, people from remote suburbs who would not go to work every day. At the same time, office workers often understand the context of the company's processes better than remote workers. They are more likely to have a broader outlook on the tasks and what is happening within the company, will be able to generate joint initiatives more easily, go beyond projects. When the company supports existing processes, this is not so critical, but during a period of business growth, it can be very important.

Anastasia, HR manager at a large Russian IT company, St. Petersburg

The third reason is potential tightening regulations on remote work. Mass departure of Russian IT specialists abroad in 2022 caused a certain anxiety in the government and increased interest in this sector. The introduction of new rules and requirements may create additional difficulties for employers and remote employees: from difficulties with money transfers to the departure of software products from the Russian market. Only 16% of Russian IT companies are ready consider applicants from abroad.

At my former job, many people went abroad in 2022. Some later returned, but some continued to work remotely from abroad. But the specifics of the work itself are such that physical presence is necessary – at least several days a week. Now most of my former colleagues are working a hybrid schedule, and those who decided to stay abroad were forced to change jobs.

Andrey, DevOps Engineer in Retail, Saint Petersburg

Why People Choose to Work in an Office

According to VTsIOM pollsas of 2022, a quarter of working Russians (25%) have already tried the delights of remote work. In the IT sector, this percentage is higher and amounts to 36%. But there are still those who prefer the standard five-day week.

The pros and cons of office and remote work are obvious. When working remotely, you can work from home, or from a cafe, coworking space, or a hotel while traveling. You can work in a cozy environment, with your favorite food at hand, and do household chores at the same time. The time and money that could have been spent on the road are easier to use for hobbies, family matters, or leisure. It becomes easier to go to the doctor on a workday, pick up children from kindergarten and school, meet with anyone in the middle of the day, and even visit a museum or English courses, and at the same time you can avoid being distracted by conversations with colleagues in the canteen or smoking room.

On the other hand, an office is a place for business communication, teamwork, and important meetings. A clear work schedule and a certain atmosphere motivate and contribute to productivity. Working outside the home for the sake of communication is often chosen by those who live alone – especially since the offices of modern IT companies have coffee, comfortable canteens with delicious food, and entertainment. There are also those for whom work becomes a break from everyday life and family troubles. The boundary between work and home becomes clearer: it is easier to focus on professional tasks in the office, and at home – to throw everything out of your head and switch to personal matters.

The office disciplines

Many people — even those with experience working remotely — choose the office because it provides discipline. When surrounded by colleagues, it’s easier to automatically switch to work mode and focus on tasks. The constant presence of a manager and the conscious need to be responsible for your actions encourage responsibility and increase productivity. The office environment creates certain rules and norms of behavior, which helps you stay within the work process and keeps you from distractions.

I worked remotely for three years. Plus another year — a hybrid schedule: three days from the office, two days from home. Now I work in the office on a five-day week and am happy.

I wouldn't call myself lazy, but at home there's always something to distract myself with: the fridge, cats, the street, TV series. Plus, one of the neighbors is often doing repairs or sorting out a relationship: it's impossible to concentrate with the noise of a jackhammer or raised voices talking behind the wall. The office disciplines me in this regard. The road from home to work takes an hour: while I'm riding the subway, I can watch a video on my phone, chat with friends on messengers, or read a book.

Olga, technical writer at a bank, Moscow

I can't work with my family

Sometimes, the presence of family members nearby makes it difficult to concentrate on work. Constant noise, interruptions, the incessant need to communicate, requests for help and attention interfere, even if family members try to be quiet. The feeling of constant surveillance and the need to be available is intensified if there are children or elderly relatives in the house. All this does not have the best effect on productivity.

I work four days a week from the office, one day remotely. In principle, it is possible to set up a work environment at home, but why, if it is more pleasant to go to the office? Again, if a teenage daughter stays at home, then you have to be distracted from work, and if the whole family gathers, it is impossible to work at all.

Alexey, systems analyst, Moscow

All attempts to work remotely and complete freelance projects at home ended in failure. Either a small child required attention, and there was no one to delegate care for him (my daughter is now 3 years old), or (when there were no children yet) the lack of a close deadline stimulated idleness. Therefore, my choice is only the office, for any tasks.

Demid, C++ developer at an industrial enterprise, St. Petersburg

Those who live in communal apartments or rent housing with friends and acquaintances cannot always adapt to each other. One works the night shift or remotely in another time zone, while another needs to get up early in the morning. Someone turns on the TV, music or video in the background, while the neighbor needs silence. And spending time together 24 hours a day can cause a quarrel even between the closest friends. Even during the pandemic, when people stayed at home so as not to get infected and not to infect others, there were those for whom the office was more convenient from a safety point of view: sitting in a half-empty room turned out to be easier than monitoring the movements of neighbors.

In 2020, I had just graduated from university, worked in an office, and rented a room in a communal apartment near my work. When the quarantine began and many people went remote, I still preferred to go to the office, fortunately, my boss allowed it. In principle, I was not too afraid of the virus (in the end, I never got sick). But even if we take into account the risk of infection, at home I did not always know where my neighbors went and whether they followed safety precautions, and if I had stayed at home, I would have had to cross paths with them in the communal kitchen and in the hallway anyway. The office was within walking distance from home, and there was almost no one there. I felt calmer this way: both in terms of infections, and in terms of privacy and lack of noise.

Ivan, Java developer at a product company, Saint Petersburg

The office is a place for communication

An office is a place not only for work, but also for live communication. For some, it is important to discuss professional topics not in correspondence or on a call, but in person, attend meetings, participate in professional events. For others, informal conversations, exchange of opinions during lunch breaks, collective congratulations on holidays are more important. All this creates a team atmosphere, strengthens mutual understanding and makes the work process more enjoyable and effective.

Remote work is not bad, but, as they say, there are nuances. Firstly, at some point you feel that you are starting to go wild, calls only on business do not fill the entire information vacuum. Secondly, there are still some small questions, for which a separate online meeting is too much, and next time you forget to ask. Thirdly, it can be difficult to drag colleagues out for a call, and in the office it is much easier to gather in a conference room or in the smoking room.

Alexey, systems analyst at a large IT holding, Moscow

The specifics of the job do not allow working remotely

Even in IT, there are areas that cannot be fully transitioned to a remote format. Some specialties require a specialist to be present at the workplace. For example: setting up equipment, working with clients offline, testing and demonstrating products. Some projects require a high degree of cooperation and teamwork, which is difficult to implement remotely. In such cases, office space remains a necessary element for effective interaction and solving complex problems.

I test driverless cars, combining the work of a tester and a driver. Letting them drive without me is, you know, dangerous for now.

Evgeniya, driverless truck tester, Moscow

It's easier to maintain a work-life balance with an office

In an office, where work and personal life are clearly separated physically, it is easier to maintain a balance between them. When you leave work, you leave work tasks and switch to your personal life. Remote work often erases the boundaries between work time and rest, which leads to overwork and the inability to completely disconnect from work tasks. As a result, the work process becomes more stressful, and personal matters are done on a residual basis.

In the office, it's easier for me to separate work and rest. When I go to work, my personal life is over; when I leave work, work is over and my personal life has begun. But when you sit at home all the time, this line becomes too blurred.

In any case, you need to physically leave the house for a while to somehow interrupt this continuous cycle of sitting at the computer.

Alexander, system administrator in a data center, St. Petersburg

Despite the fact that my profession is one of the most popular remote jobs, I go to the office and don’t want to work from home. I have occasional freelance jobs, but it’s easier for me to do them in the office when my main work is done. At home, you get excited and start doing more than you should.

Elena, copywriter in a food company, St. Petersburg

The office is cozy

Modern IT companies strive to make offices as comfortable as possible. Comfortable furniture, indoor plants on the windowsill, fresh renovation, coffee from a coffee machine, food in the canteen – all this creates a feeling of coziness and makes the working day more enjoyable. Many companies offer corporate gyms, board games and tennis, yoga and foreign language classes, corporate trips to nature – so that the issue of leisure is also solved for employees.

Our office is cozy, there is always tea, coffee, sweets, fruit, some vending machines with snacks. A comfortable table, a comfortable chair, air conditioning. There is an excellent canteen with a huge selection of food: working from home, I very quickly roll down to the ordered shawarma and eat it without leaving the computer. Considering that the journey from home to the office takes half an hour (and in the summer I do not use the metro, but go by tram and then by scooter), being in the office is much more pleasant than working from home, and the road is perceived as a walk.

Alexey, systems analyst at a large IT holding, Moscow

Remote work can get tiresome

It also happens that people are happy to leave the office for remote work, but then begin to get tired of this work schedule. Many women continue to earn extra money from home while on maternity leave, and going back to office work becomes a kind of return to adult affairs and social roles that are different from the role of a mother. The same applies to those who start working remotely for cities with a population of over a million and then move. In this case, the office, the road to it, and places near work can become a source of new social connections in a new place, while within four walls new contacts arise much more slowly.

I started working remotely as a freelancer when my eldest son was born. But gradually I realized that I was tired of Groundhog Day, and there weren't many orders then. As soon as my child went to kindergarten, I went to the office for a stable salary. Then I gained experience and changed my job to a more interesting and well-paid one, also on a five-day week. But after the birth of my youngest, I went remote again.

With my first child, it was very important to feel like I was back in the game, to talk not only about children, to communicate with colleagues, and not just with my family and neighbors on the playground. With the second, you already feel more confident, and you have more experience in the profession, so there is no such contrast. Now I don’t want to go to the office, I feel better at home. And public opinion towards remote work has changed: 10 years ago, many did not take it seriously. But then the experience of a five-day week turned out to be valuable.

Daria, tester in online education, Moscow

In 2021, I got a job remotely in Moscow, while still living with my parents in Yaroslavl. I liked working remotely at home, but gradually I began to get tired of it. However, I was already getting a job with thoughts of moving to the metropolis. In the capital's office, most of my colleagues are on a hybrid schedule, and I also began to come to work three times a week. At first, the Moscow distances were scary, but then I got used to it. And then I appreciated all the advantages: I go to the city center, I started going to quizzes in one of the nearby establishments, I met new people, we started going to the theater, the cinema, and parties together. If I had sat within four walls in a rented apartment in Kuzminki and walked only to the nearest store, none of this would have happened.

Sergey, frontend developer in retail, Moscow

It is clear that the demand from job seekers for remote vacancies will not go away in the coming years. This is also evidenced by the commercial real estate market: many business spaces around the world are emptying or change their format, turning into lofts, and sometimes into residential apartments. Business centers are transformed into coworkings and open spaces, but are surrounded by park areas, recreation areas, cultural and entertainment spaces, high-speed 5G communications throughout the territory.

The choice between office, remote and hybrid work is a personal decision that depends on individual preferences, lifestyle and work specifics. It is important to understand that there is no right or wrong option. The advantage of IT is the freedom of choice and the opportunity to try different work formats during your career.

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