Remote or Hybrid?
I was recently asked to answer a few questions from Workifit regarding how the future of work looks from a location perspective. Is remote going to stick, or is it winding down?
I think this topic deserves a little more than just a quotable answer so here are my expanded thoughts:
Do you think the future of work will be remote or hybrid?
Many people focus on the location of work, and I believe this is a convenient distraction from the underlying issue. A lot of companies don’t trust their employees.
Do you prefer to work at home or an office? Or would you prefer to be given the freedom to choose to decide what is best for you at any given time?
I’m not talking about “let us know what your schedule will be” or “work for 6 weeks remote” or “Come into the office for the important meetings”… I’m talking about entirely getting rid of having to tell middle-management where you are or will be at any given time. This is what “remote work” is about. You can work remotely from an office even at your company’s office. People do it all the time in satellite offices and co-working spaces.
Let’s look at the numbers:
#workfromhome 521,643 followers (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/workfromhome/)
#office 11,041 followers
(https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/office/)
It’s not statistically significant, but it should serve as a pretty good indicator to the fact that most people prefer working remotely. Support for returning to the office is abysmal. Even if you are in the ~2% of people who prefer to work from an office — I’m pretty sure that you are not against people’s right to choose.
There are so many articles, posts, etc. All cheering the return to the office. I can’t but help to see it as some sort of corporate panic. Especially when they recite one of the scripted responses to remote work. If your company does this, here are some responses to the whole “why remote work is bad” propoganda:
”Alot of people like going to the office to be social”
Yeah, so do I, but I’d much rather go to a co-working space and choose who I work next to. I don’t want to be forced to sit in a cubical next to someone I don’t like.
”The team is just more productive in the office”
How is productivity being measured in this context? Is productivity even being monitored? If you’re having trouble getting visibility into what people are working on, that is a completely separate issue from where the work is being done.
”It’s much better security than working remotely”
I very highly doubt it. There is a reason most companies don’t have on premise data centers anymore. Maintaining a secure facility is expensive. Maintaining secure software, not as much.
”Yeah but remote work has downsides too”
I have yet to see a downside to remote work that isn’t a downside to work itself.
So to answer the original question: Do you think the future of work will be remote or hybrid? Remote. Hybrid is a misnomer. Remote is the only option if you are in favor of empowering individuals.
What does your company do about it? What’s your work model and why?
Our model is trust.
It really is that simple. Trust each individual to do what works best for them.
If you don’t have that trust, you probably shouldn’t hire them in the first place.
