Roach: March in Maui?

Winter is coming. We’ve just enjoyed the best season of the year in Wisconsin — fall in full swing. The days were warm, the nights cool, the leaves colorful. The Badgers and Packers provided distraction every week.

Now there are decisions to be made as winter approaches, made more challenging because many of us possess a freedom we have not enjoyed heretofore.

As wonderful as fall can be, Wisconsin winters are not as charming. Sure, a big snowstorm is a beautiful thing to behold. But the truth is that Wisconsin winters are two months too long. If there was a magic wand to be waved it would be 70 degrees through November, then cooler temperatures for the first two weeks of December, followed by a big snowstorm the week before Christmas. Then winter through February to help us appreciate the rest of the year, followed by a return to 70 degrees in March and the first crocuses heralding eight months of summer.

But that is not our reality. March and April are our worst months. They are neither winter nor spring. They are just bad. But now, because work models are forever changed by COVID-19, especially for those without school-aged children, some folks are free to exploit remote work options and flee the Ugly Months.

And to do that we must answer two questions: Can we go, and if so, where?

Since the pandemic, some adventurers have fled the old work model altogether. TikTok is replete with Americans who have abandoned their homes to wander the country in vans, rehabbed school buses or luxurious motor homes outfitted with Elon Musk’s Starlink dish that allows them internet access from anywhere, anytime. North America has become their office.

This hits home for our small business. Roach Projects’ merry band of nine video producers, writers and editors performed wonderfully throughout the imposed remoteness of COVID-19. A return to a hybrid model has been fine, but our old offices did not reflect the functionality or costs of a new reality. So, after nearly 15 years in our old joint, we are moving to new offices on the west side called Serendipity Labs, an innovative concept that offers fluid workspace without the overhead of our old location.

The intent of our move was to try something that seems at first blush to be folly: to make everyone happy. Those who want to be fully remote, can. Those who want the social buzz and resources of an office, have it. All for a lower cost than our old lease, in a place that affords us our own office, aka The Rumpus Room, plus a bevy of innovative, shared spaces. We have huddle rooms, Zoom rooms and board rooms we never had before, all at a fraction of the cost.

But there is a catch. With the fair assumption that culture has played an important role in the 38-year run of our business, this new work freedom comes with a Culture Club Clause. No matter the work model each employee chooses, we are facilitating a monthly dinner with their immediate work groups, and a full staff all-hands-on-deck dinner every two months to break bread and talk about our lives; the work we are doing, our problems and triumphs, and the wonderful mess that every small business is.

You know, like real human beings.

Imagine that.

The goal is to adapt an innovative work model while making our human bonds stronger. The results remain to be seen, but it’s a shot worth taking. As for the freedom it affords, I’m thinking remote work in Florida in early December for me. A Los Angeles visit to see our son and his new bride in late January, followed by a jaunt to the California desert to freeload with snowbird friends in February.

This leaves March and April up in the air.

Assuming sufficient frequent flyer points, the bride has been wanting to get me to Hawaii to celebrate our 40th anniversary that COVID-19 demolished two years ago. Instead of basking on the beach, we went to the Culver’s drive-thru in Woodruff, Wisconsin. Good food. No sand.

Maybe this year.

Because, you know, Maui has internet.

John Roach, a Madison-based screenwriter and producer, writes this column monthly. Reach him at johneroach@mac.com.