With internet, mobile phones and laptops, home office or remote work have seen a huge increase over the years.

Yet, as Yahoo! showed this year (see article from Forbes on the matter), working remotely, if developed and developing, is not always seen as a viable option by companies.

This post was inspired by the holiday season which saw me running around and not hitting the office so much. For good or bad ?

Well who has never seen someone sitting at a Starbucks, sipping a latte and hitting the Mac hard ?

That does not provide any answer, I know. Just sounds cool and looks cool.

From experience I can say that there is actual work being done and people delivering. And sometimes not.

In fact, people do not change.

Call me Dr Me and I give you this quote : “people do not change” … .

Joke aside, the vision behind this short sentence is that personalities do not differ, regardless of working at the office, at home or anywhere else.

– The lazy : remains lazy and will not put much more effort into doing the job. The main difference may be how they would waste their time.

– The committed : same system as above but with an extra level of risk for their own health when working from home. Typically would make sure to sit in front of their computer for 10 hours a day, possibly skipping lunch.

– The others … like the addict, the hard-worker, the zombie, etc … . The office will not change their pattern much nor will working from home.

People do not change, behaviours may.

It is a new year and that is the time when people make decisions like stopping smoking or going back to the gym. These petty things which will be lost come February and the holidays season (yeah! ski!).

However, people may also take responsibility, when granted, and tweak their behaviour.

Trust may sometimes give a lot more results than just orders.

The point I am making here is basically that working remotely can be a good thing.

I do not change. The surroundings do.

From the pub office says the title. I can indeed work remotely. I can sit at the office, can work from home, can sip a Starbucks and still type, can basically work from anywhere where wifi is available.

But my favourite remote office is the pub. Nothing to do with an addiction of any sort, of course.

They do almost always offer wifi which is not always the case in other places outside Paris.

They are very quiet places during the day – as opposed to Starbucks which are usually quite crowded.

They have plenty of plugs available. And asking the waiter instead of randomly plugging in makes a difference too (do you really want to be hated by a Parisian “garçon” ?)

They are usually safe (extra safe if you did not miss the part above) which means leaving the Mac on the table for a few minutes shall not be any reason for stress.

That is a preferred spot when working on the go but the main idea behind having fun listing why pubs rock ( … for work) remains that remote work should really not regarded as an option for doing nothing.

Just spending a day in the office means seeing people running around the place for coffee, cigarette, chat, etc … breaks, calling Mum, Dad or any random friend, shopping shoes or liking pictures and so on.

Even if those would do the same at home what is the difference ?

And remote work tends to educate people somehow. Maybe not to change or improve but, at least, I can see how less disturbed I am by people when not sitting next to them trying to work.

I mentioned that pubs are quiet. Well home office is quiet. And that is where the main difference is. I can definitely do a lot more work without getting a question from the guy next desk every minute when working outside the office and can end a day not being tired due to the sole “noise” (actual noise, moves and agitation) of surrounding people.

So, stay relaxed, work from the pub!

And tell me what your best spot is for remote work. Cheers!