Coming Soon: WFH-Proof of Concept

We are just about 2 years into the "Work from Home" experiment. I say experiment because I don't believe companies have had the chance to fully get their arms around how this is affecting their businesses but I think the "proof of concept" (or maybe proof of failure) is just around the corner.

I have always said that WFH favors certain industries while being a nothing more than a huge mistake for others. In my particular market segments, all of my companies are essential and therefore we never closed one day during the pandemic. Keeping the power on for our public and private clients, as well as restoring power after natural disasters dictates so. Most people would probably say that since I don't have any personnel working from home, I don't have a dog in this fight. That's where the short sightedness becomes apparent. I rarely see the perspective of the employer in the WFH discussion on LinkedIn (or other platforms for that manner). I actually think many are afraid to express an opinion, which is a sad statement about our current climate. Since I'm rarely afraid to share my opinion on any topic, you've probably guessed you're getting my perspective very soon.

WFH was a necessity for many companies during the first few months of the pandemic. There was much unknown and a general sense of fear. Working from home was a necessary evil and helped many companies stay afloat along while keeping many people employed, PPP loans helped finance the cost of discontinuity. In general we accepted the inefficiencies and made the best of a bad situation. Fast forward, two years and the prevailing attitude is that "I shouldn't ever have to go back to the office again." Maybe.... maybe not.

Most of the proponents of WFH tout the personal benefits. "I don't have to commute", "I don't have to buy lunch", "I don't have get dressed". They also give the boilerplate disclaimer "I'm more productive working from home" but is that really the case? I'm going to guess that in the case of a lot of high producers, it might just be so. They will use the perks of having additional time to not only enhance their own lives and in the case of commission based workers, probably make more money for themselves and their employers.

But what about the average to low producer? With less structure and routine, they will most likely struggle to achieve what they did before in person. This is where companies are going to be forced to take action. We already saw last month where a company fired 900 workers via Zoom. Outrage ensued. Why? You want to be hired via Zoom and work via Zoom so why not be terminated via Zoom? You see, when you disconnect from the personal relationships that in-person work creates, you just become a commodity, a number. Be careful what you wish for because you're probably going to get it eventually.

Since the New Year, I have announced to my team we will not be using (3) vendors who we have utilized for years. Why? Here's an example of what we are seeing. On Monday, a call was placed to check stock and initiate an order. "What state are you calling from? New York? OK, your sales person is Mary (not her real name) but she is working remotely, I will have her call you back." Monday comes and goes with no return call. Another person from our team calls to check stock on another item. Same response, same non-response. By Friday, three members of our team are furious they have not gotten a call back (this is now 3 separate orders). A project manager asks to speak to ANYONE but Mary and explains why. Well, 3 minutes later, Mary emails asking what she can do for us. Is this how inside sales is supposed to work in the WFH era?

You can call this an isolated incident but it's not. We have (2) other entities who we have done business with for over 20 years and found the same results. We have to chase them to get quotes and place orders. "It's because of COVID" or "We need additional time, we can't get to you for another week." I'm going to guess we are not the only company experiencing this.

This is one example of WFH inefficiencies (although it's really more like insubordination). If these employees were working from an office, a manager would coordinate lunch breaks to make sure phones were staffed, have someone to transfer a caller to and in general, have some sort of structure. Unfortunately WFH means "work from where ever, whenever" to many people.

There are bigger issues with WFH such as difficulties with team building, onboarding and mentoring, just to name a few. In general WFH is going to shine a spotlight on the overachievers and the underachievers. There will be one of two results. The "Great Resignation" will become the "The Great Layoff" due to companies decreased revenue or just cleaning house of low producers. The other option is companies will demand a return to traditional business settings with limited windows for remote work.