Why I declined a job offer because it was office first

Today I want to share a personal story. A while ago, I got a job offer. It was a lot of money. The job was interesting. I declined almost immediately. Not only because I own a company and love working with the people there, but because it was an Office First company.

That made me think about everything I have to give up when going back to an office only job.

Here are three reasons why I never go back to an office job:

Reason 1# I want to avoid commuting. 

~2 hours per day spent only to get to an office. Doesn't make sense to me anymore. Downside: I am having a hard time keeping up with all the podcasts now. :-)

Reason 2# More quality time with my family. 

No commute means more time for my family. But also having dinner and lunch with my kids or just take a short break and have a chat with them. So much better than being away for ~10 hours per day.

Reason 3# My life, my schedule. 

In an office setting, everyone can interrupt you at any time. They can just walk into your office and gone is your precious focus time. In my home office (or where I like to work) I can turn off all chats, emails, whatsoever, and gone are all interruptions. Feels like magic every so often.

Sure, there are more, but these are the main reasons why I started to transform my company into a remote first one.

What would you miss when you would be forced to go back to the office?