Tag Archives: remote work

Working remotely? You must be able to write well

Says this Inc. article. I have been working from home (remotely) since the beginning of my professional life. The recent Covid-19 outbreak has forced the world to rethink the way everyone works. Millions of people are working from home these days. Remote work is the new normal.

The author of the above article says that “clear writing is a mark of respect”, and I couldn’t agree more. When you pay attention to your words and sentences, you are actually paying attention to the readers’ sensibilities. Your readers don’t deserve to come across lousy writing.

Agreed, the language in which you normally need to write (English for example) may not be your first language sometimes, and if you commit some oversights, that’s understandable. But some people simply don’t care even when they know how to write. They intentionally misspell or write badly structured sentences or use bad grammar. They think that using language correctly is a sign of snobbery.

When people are working remotely, communication gaps are common. You’re not talking face-to-face. You’re either using Slack, or emails or chat applications. A word missed here and there, a comma missed or misplaced here and there, and the entire meaning changes.