Jonathan Hitzhusen worked from home “before it was cool.”
Before the Covid-19 pandemic forced almost everyone who worked at a computer to convert the kitchen table into a desk or make a home office out of the living room, Hitzhusen worked in technology sales, sitting at a desk in the corner of his bedroom.
He said it was 2019; he had four children, three bedrooms and was losing his mind.
Hitzhusen took a month’s paid leave and built an office in his backyard. It was basically a fancy shed – a free-standing structure, but not large or well-equipped enough to require additional permits.
“I liked it,” he said. “It was kind of life-changing.”
His backyard office would be the first of dozens that are now scattered throughout Utah. In 2022, when remote work became the norm, he built it in someone else’s backyard. Backyard Office Utah then became a full-scale company.
And two years later, Hitzhusen said, there are no signs of slowing down. He has dates available until January – he said office construction takes three weeks to a month – and he is already on track to build 20% more than last year.
(Courtesy) Jonathan Hitzhusen built his first office in his backyard so he could work from home with his four children. When the pandemic forced many employees to work remotely, he realized he had something to offer. As of 2022, Backyard Office Utah has built approximately 35 offices throughout Utah.
Remote work is here to stay – at least to some extent. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 284,000 Utahns worked from home in 2023.
The number of remote workers nationwide has declined slightly since its peak in 2021, according to a Coworking Mag analysis of census bureau data. However, the share of remote workers in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area — 18.5% — is higher than the national average of 13.8%. , and even higher than the highest national average of 17.9%.
Some flexibility is still popular. Most employees who can work remotely say they prefer at least a hybrid model, and companies have responded accordingly.
According to Scoop, a work management software company, more companies offered remote or hybrid work in the first quarter of 2024 than in the first quarter of 2023. Fewer companies require employees to come to the office five days a week.
That’s why most of Hitzhusen’s clients found him, although he also builds craft sheds, golf simulator sheds, home gyms and music studios. Many of his clients are remote or hybrid workers – people like Kyle Clements.
Access to the yard
Clements’ job as a project manager in the tech industry involved riding an e-bike to the Frontrunner station in Lehi, then taking the train to Millcreek, and then riding his bike the rest of the way to the office. His family of five has one car. However, he added that bicycles and transport are his preferred means of transport.
Now it takes just a few seconds to get there. The 200-square-foot office building in the backyard provides a quiet place to work, away from three children and home life.
“I’m still just as busy in the middle of the day,” he said. But being close means she can spend some time doing laundry, picking up her daughter from kindergarten or cooking dinner.
“It just changed the lives of our whole family,” he said.
Clements’ home office is also multi-functional. It’s primarily his office, he said. But it is also a home gym, an occasional playroom for children or a space for hosting outside them.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kyle Clements sits in his home office, a shed in his backyard in Lehi, Friday, September 27, 2024.
“I think outside of sleeping, I probably spend more time in this room than I do at home,” he said. “At least on weekdays.”
It’s also a piece of home that mostly resembles his, he said. There’s a dart board hanging on the wall; a bookshelf decorated with video game accessories; at his desk, a poster showing various maps of the world and his favorite motto: “All maps are wrong.” Most of his office decor until recently was “in a box somewhere.”
“It’s a lot of fun to have a space where I can create my own space,” he said. “I didn’t have that before.”
Clements doesn’t know if he’ll have to work remotely forever, he said. However, he would be hesitant to return to a job that would require spending many hours commuting to and from the office.
“I’m very interested in what this commute will look like,” he said.
Plus, Clements said, it’s proof that remote workers can be at least as productive as their in-office colleagues. He added that he had more hours during the day that he could devote to his work.
And when he’s done, he just needs to take a few steps across the yard and he’s home.
Dream job
For Sydney Jones, one positive effect of the pandemic was that it allowed her to find her dream job.
Jones said she worked at a marketing agency in 2020 – working in an office in a building she commuted to from her home in Midvale.
Jones loves baseball. Before the pandemic, she worked on the University of Utah’s varsity staff. But she always dreamed of working for a Major League team, she said.
She didn’t care which one – she was loyal to the sport, not a specific city. “It was my whole dream,” she said. – And for a moment I thought it was over.
Jones said that when her marketing job changed to remote work, she realized she could work effectively from anywhere. So when the Cincinnati Reds were looking for a project manager, they applied.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) An office in the backyard of Sydney Jones’ home in Midvale, Monday, September 30, 2024.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sydney Jones’ dog, Scout, in her backyard office in Midvale, Monday, September 30, 2024.
Now he has been in this position for almost three years.
Working remotely allowed her to get her dream job in Utah. The green office in her backyard allows her to do this in peace. It separates her family life from work, even if only by a few meters and four walls.
Jones has a three-year-old and another child on the way. She said it would not be sustainable to work outside the bedroom or at a desk in the living room. Her options were to find a new home or have her work from home.
“Working from home is a requirement of our home, so how do we make our home meet this requirement?” Jones said.
The ability to work from home, even part-time, is now a requirement for Jones.
“I think I’ve proven to myself and other people that I can work remotely, even if it’s a hybrid setup,” she said. “But honestly, I think hybrid is the best solution I see.”
Shannon Sollitt is Report for America corps member responsible for corporate responsibility and sustainability for the Salt Lake Tribune. Your RFA donation will help her continue writing stories like this; consider making a tax-deductible donation of any amount today by clicking Here.
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