Eddie Chin Case Study
After working in an office for several years, Eddie Chin took a job with the federal government that offered him the flexibility to work from home. After a while, isolation began to take its toll. That’s when Eddie discovered Expansive and really began to appreciate the benefits of his agency’s Work from Anywhere (WFA) policy.
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Although more professionals find themselves working remotely thanks to COVID-19, the idea of working from home is not a new concept. After working in an office for several years, Eddie Chin took a job with the federal government that offered him the flexibility to work from home. After a while, isolation began to take its toll. That’s when Eddie discovered Expansive and really began to appreciate the benefits of his agency’s Work from Anywhere (WFA) policy.
Eddie’s government agency has supported fully remote workers since 2006. By 2018, 88% of the employees in his department worked remote from one to five days each week, and 50% worked remote four to five days a week. In fact, the success of their remote work model has been promoted as a prime example for other government agencies to follow. In addition to reducing operating overhead, his agency found remote work increased employee productivity by an average of 4.4%. Yet the evolution of this work from anywhere program has been a journey. Like Eddie, many employees started out working from home but evolved their personal routines over time to include flex work spaces that better support the productivity and personal experience they want.
Eddie understands the rigors of working from home as well as anyone. When he started as a federal employee in 2014, he spent three years working from home while taking full advantage of his flexibility, moving from Washington D.C. to New York, and then San Francisco. But during that time Eddie struggled with many of the issues that home-based workers encounter; it became increasingly difficult to distinguish between working hours and personal time.
“When you work from home it’s easy to get stuck,” said Chin. “You roll out of bed, go to work, then go back to bed. When you work from home, it’s easy for everything that makes a person civilized to go out the window. It’s like being a cave dweller.”
Rather than finding the lack of structure and peers freeing, Eddie found it difficult to adapt. He wasn’t enjoying his work experience. To improve productivity and stay engaged, Eddie decided he had to get out of the house and find an environment that would give him a sense of community and professionalism, and where he could meet and exchange ideas with others.
In 2017, Eddie started looking for a shared office environment that would help energize him and give more professional structure to his days. His requirements also included high-speed, secure internet access that would meet the high standards necessary for the federal government. While looking at various options he found that many of these features came with a high price tag. Adding the level of internet he needed to an office, for example, was well beyond his budget.
Today, Eddie maintains a workspace at the Expansive Gaslamp facility near his current home in San Diego. He explored other coworking and office alternatives, but couldn’t find anything he liked that fit his work needs and budget. When he toured the Expansive Gaslamp building shortly after it opened in 2017, Eddie knew he had found the perfect workspace for him. As someone who values having the freedom to design his own environment, Eddie immediately recognized that Expansive could help him craft his ideal work experience more effectively and efficiently than before. It met his budget and requirements and he felt at home in the space, but it was his immediate connection with the Expansive staff that sealed the deal.
Today, Eddie is the longest-standing member of the Gaslamp community. He welcomes the comfort of consistency and the freedom that having a reliable workspace provides, and has graduated from his original dedicated desk to a private office over the years.
Expansive helped Eddie add greater discipline to his workdays. He recognizes that each small step in his everyday routine is a conscious choice that keeps him engaged and excited to get to work. “I know it’s been a great tool for me to design my everyday experience,” he said. “Everything from where I park in the morning and what time I come in to where I get my coffee and who I talk toon the way to my desk.”
Expansive also gives Eddie the social interaction and supportive community that he missed when working from home. For Eddie, “It’s not just about the amenities, it’s about the personalities, the relationships, and also the experience of being here with other people.”
Whether it’s going to lunch, meeting up after the workday ends, or even traveling together, Eddie’s Expansive community has been one of the most valuable benefits of his workspace. Those relationships transcend the walls of Expansive Gaslamp and help Eddie bridge personal and professional interests, expand his network, and build opportunities with others. For example, when one coworking colleague had a staffing problem in South America, Eddie was able to help with an introduction to another contact from Argentina. For Eddie, making these connections is as simple as walking down the hallway and starting a conversation.
Using his workspace at Expansive to establish a routine also allows Eddie to stay laser-focused on his day-to-day tasks as an employee of the federal government. As a result of his efficiency, he has more free time to pursue other interests, including travel. Eddie spends much of his time traveling to see family and friends, explore potential real estate opportunities, and do missionary work for his church. With Expansive, he not only has a workspace close to home but he also has guaranteed access to a workspace that fits his needs in cities across the country.
“Going to a place like Expansive is comfortable and easy because it feels like a headquarters. You know what to expect; the quality is consistent.”
Eddie isn’t alone. There are thousands of federal employees that need resources like workspace to fully capitalize on their ability to work from anywhere. While remote work flexibility can be a huge benefit, it takes self-awareness to make it work. Understanding what one needs to be successful is one step, securing it is the other.
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