The war over work from home: Does remote work really impact success and productivity?

Welcome to Forbes Edge, your insider’s guide to career and entrepreneurial success, exclusively on LinkedIn. If you work from home, you don’t want to skip our top story this week. Forbes spoke with academic researchers, corporate advisers and business executives on what existing data says about remote work’s impact on productivity, creativity and more. Then we’ll tackle some networking tips for those who are introverted, shy or just hate networking. And finally, we’ll take a look at some different résumé formats—and the pros and cons of each.

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Success story of the week: The war over work from home: Does remote work really impact success and productivity?

Many remote and hybrid workers can hear the rumblings of a possible return to in-office work. CEOs of major companies have made headlines in recent months for calling their workers back to the office, eliminating the option for fully remote schedules. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been unwavering in his distaste for remote work, saying that “it does not work for younger people, it doesn’t work for those who want to hustle, it doesn’t work in terms of spontaneous idea generation.”

Is he right? It’s hard to say. Workplace norms continue to shift , and collaborative software tools are constantly being updated and improved. Productivity is notoriously hard to measure for white-collar workers, and a lot of existing data comes from employee surveys or academic research that studies niche worker categories.

Brian Elliott, who previously led Slack’s Future Forum research consortium and now advises executive teams on flexible work arrangements, says many CEOs still have “executive nostalgia” about a model that worked for them years ago. “There’s still this big CEO echo chamber aspect of it,” he says.

While some data may support the complaints executives have, other research suggests it does the opposite. But it does seem clear that the hybrid arrangement is poised to win out, inexperienced workers are more vulnerable to work-from-home’s downsides, and employees really don’t want to work full-time in the office.

Success Edge: “For whatever reason, we keep making where we work the lightning rod, when how we work is the thing that is in crisis,” says Annie Dean of Atlassian.?

Productivity and culture are two of the main sticking points for many companies when considering flexible schedules. And while there is possibly truth behind the idea of in-office workers being more productive, there are assumptions that have an impact on how those workers are viewed.

UC Davis professor Kimberly Elsbach has long studied “face-time bias,” or the career advantages of people who are physically present in the office. Her 2010 study found that when people are seen in the office, even when nothing is known about the quality of their work, they are perceived as more reliable and dependable, “subjective trait characteristics” that are tied to career advancement.?

As to the question of how much “work culture” can suffer when most workers aren’t in office, software firm Atlassian ran an analysis to see how often remote workers needed to come together to feel more connected. Internal surveys showed that remote employees who got together for in-person gatherings had a 27% increase in how connected they felt; the surveys suggested three times a year was the best frequency for preventing a loss of that connectedness.

“The truth is the flexible way of working is going to stick, but it needs new management practices,” says Harvard Business School professor Raj Choudhury, such as gathering for regular offsites or figuring out how to coordinate attendance so people aren’t Zooming alone in the office. “There’s good hybrid—and there’s terrible hybrid.”

Read the full story here.

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Tips and strategies: Career survival guide for those who hate networking

If you’re not a big fan of networking (like the writer of this newsletter), the idea of engaging in small talk and forging connections in the professional world can be overwhelming and depleting. But it is possible to successfully navigate the tumultuous networking landscape even if you despise the traditional approach.

For those who are introverted or shy, embrace who you are, listen intently and leverage your introspective nature to ask thoughtful questions. Find networking opportunities that align more with your interests and seek out quality conversation over just collecting a stack of business cards. These strategies will help you gain confidence in how you network and forge stronger connections.

Read the full story here from Dr. Ruth Gotian for more networking tips.

Practical advice: The best résumé formats for candidates in 2023

Not all résumé formats are created equal, so it’s important that you identify early on in the job search process which layout you are going to use to present your experience, qualifications and skills in the best possible light.

If you are applying to roles that are directly aligned with your industry and experience, the traditional résumé format with reverse chronological career history is the way to go. If you have little to no experience in the field, or have gaps in employment, use a functional résumé—but with extreme caution and care. However, the most preferred option is to use a combination résumé, which will reduce red flags for employers, be easy to scan, and bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to go in your career.

Read the full story here from Rachel Wells for more details about traditional, functional and combination résumés.

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Thank you for reading! We'll be back next week with another Forbes Edge.?

This edition of Forbes Edge was written and curated by associate editor Chris Dobstaff .