37signals has produced a video describing their company culture of working remotely. It’s interesting and worth a watch, and I’ll discuss why it’s interesting to me in a moment.

I find the video interesting for a few reasons. Most of the video is spent interviewing different 37signals employees who work from home, either full or part time. It’s interesting to me that the reasons cited are mostly centred around the ability to do non-work related things while working. Hrm.

I understand I’m being a little reductive here, but it drives me nuts when 37signals implies that working remotely works for everyone.

The befits outlined in the video are all benefits for the employees, not really the employers. Of course, happier employees are more productive employees, but I would have like to have seen more reasons for employers to encourage working remotely compared to just employees.

The long and short of it is that working remotely might work for your team, but not necessarily. It’s going to depend on your team and company culture. I’ve always been of that opinion, just as I’ve always been of the opinion that 37signals is telling a bit of a lie by omission by suggesting that it will work for every company.