The remote worker craze isnt the best for every business. Heres why

The remote worker craze isnt the best for every business. Heres whyThe remote worker craze isnt the best for every business. Heres whySkype calls, coworking spaces, and continent-hopping employees are becoming more and more popular as technology allows us to communicate instantly across the world.So its natural to ask, why does everyone need to be in the same building?Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIts tempting to get caught up in the siren song of the remote worker craze, but its also important to understand why working remotely may leid be right for your company.I believe when people are present, they are more effective and efficient.Take a startup, for example. These are small companies that move fast. The sekretariat is busy, koranvers, but thats why you want everyone there. Its infinitely easier to walk up to someones desk and ask them a couple of questions than it is to s pend 15 minutes drafting an email or waiting 10 minutes for a response to a chat message that is experiencing technical difficulties.While every company has different needs, heres why I thought twice before letting everyone work from their living rooms.Being in the office is energizing and makes people more effectiveTheres something to be said for being present in a room, speaking with people face-to-face and understanding who they really are.The office isnt just a place for people to work. Teams also build friendships and solve problems together. Honestly, you can learn a lot by having a conversation in the kitchen during lunch.The office also gives people a certain energy level thats hard for isolated individuals to create. Being in the mix, chatting with colleagues, and bonding socially just keeps energy levels higher.Ive always found people are less efficient collaborating when theyre not in the office. Whether theyre working from home or traveling, its always harder to connect with them. Thats not necessarily their fault, but it can be a disruptive force when it comes to your companys ability to get things done and keep moving forward quickly.Its easier to collaborate and do cross-functional workThe choice to allow people to work remotely also depends on how collaborative your environment is and how often people work across teams.For example, atThirdLoveour marketing, design, planning, and data teams work together every day. They arent siloed in their own little groups. Rather they, collaborate, share feedback, and make decisions based on input from each other.Its much harder to work that way and move quickly when people have to set up times just to speak to one another. Emails, messages, phone calls, and other impersonal methods can muddle communication. Take video calls, for instance. Every video call involves people speaking over each other, saying No, go ahead, and repeating sentences that were lost when the connection dropped for a few seconds.You mi ght think those issues are small, but inefficiencies can pile up quickly. Nothing beats tapping someone on the shoulder to ask a question and getting an immediate answer.Culture is an important part of your growthEvery strong company has to align its strategy with its culture. And honestly, its much more difficult to do that when people are constantly traveling or working from home.Its tough to build a culture that really represents your brand when people call in for an hour every few days and spend the rest of the week isolated from the team. How do you make sure they have a strong sense of the product, the customer, the brand, the service? How do you make sure the culture is really ingrained in your remote workers?At ThirdLove, we aim to create an office environment people want to be a part of. We want our team to enjoy coming to work every day and seeing friends. We want them to feel excited and inspired by the presence of their colleagues and the energy of the office. Im not sur e that would be the case if we allowed people to work from home all the time.Its not about trustIf you dont trust your team to get their work done, then youve got bigger problems. Making people come to the office to work isnt about trust. Its about collaboration, efficiency, and inspiration. Its about creating an environment that really embodies your business.I understand some companies may be able to work remotely. But for us, it just wouldnt be right.You have to be really thoughtful about your business needs and what you want to your company culture to look like. Once you know what you want, then decide if remote workers will contribute to that or take away from it. Im sure working from home is great for some companies. But you should only take that step if its going to help your company grow and thrivenot because everyone else is doing it.This article first appeared on Quora.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people