Am I a dinosaur for thinking not every job can be done remotely?

The other day I saw a post on a social media site that proudly proclaimed, “If your boss doesn’t believe in remote working, they are dinosaur”. I thought this seemed like a pretty bold statement, so I read on. They proceeded to say that “any job can be done remotely because the internet is everywhere”.

At that point, I realized that I was reading a post from an individual just as selfish and closed-minded as the bosses who don’t believe in any remote work. I have every member of my team access to some level of flexible work, with most working from home at least once a day. I still like them to come into the office though, because I still think there is something to be said about having your team in the same place to have those organic conversations.

I have a team dispersed around the country, which I had been pushing for a long time to cut down on travel and ensure that we were securing the best people, not just the people who lived in this town. It’s paid dividends, built some stronger connections across industries, and has built me a team of professionals.

But here’s the thing, not all jobs can or should be done remotely.

Imagine you are going to the hospital for a medical procedure. Would you be just as comfortable to know that there won’t be any people there, they will just be controlling a robot from home? What if the robot breaks halfway through grafting your aorta, are you ok with them just pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE?

Who cleans the hospital rooms before you arrive? I’m sure that a robot mop can deal with most of it. No need for a human to change the sheets on your bed, and we don’t want any nurses in the wards after the surgery to comfort us, they can just watch you on a camera.

Maybe you are comfortable with the idea of police working from home. They can tell you how to perform a citizen’s arrest, followed by a citizen’s transport of a person in custody to jail, and the DA will almost certainly be happy for you to do a citizen’s prosecution. Plus, as we’ve already covered, if you get shot in the line of duty you can do a citizen’s paramedic role and transport yourself to the hospital with doctors working remotely.

Sure, I’m being dramatic, but the point remains that there are lots of jobs that it is simply not feasible to have working from home all the time.

During the pandemic when everyone wanted to leave the house and were complaining about their loss of freedoms, vital workers still had to go to work. Some of them in the lower paid occupations still had to pay for public transport or petrol or parking. They still had their long commutes because they weren’t working from the living room. The only benefit was the roads were less congested, but the options for where to eat or get coffee were more restricted as businesses closed.

Some businesses like coffee shops and restaurants continue to struggle as the number of people working in the CBD of many cities remains low.

Next time you are on the precipice of complaining about your boss expecting you to come into the office one day a week, perhaps spare a thought for those who don’t get the choice. Either because they followed their heart into a business or profession where it’s not feasible, or simply because that is the job they need to do to keep a roof over their family’s head.