Will We Ever Go Back From Work From Home?

We see increasing evidence that no in-office perks are enough to entice employees to return to the office full-time. If hybrid work is the new reality, do we need to change our security approach??

Check out this post by Mark Dobson for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week’s episode co-hosted by me, David Spark , the producer of CISO Series , and Geoff Belknap . Joining us is Dr. Joe Lewis , CISO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Don’t underestimate the quality of life benefits

One thing that in-office perks can’t compete with is quality of life. No matter how many snacks and comfy chairs you bring, it can’t compete with the cost of living. "Living in the cities that are typically tech hubs has become incredibly cost-prohibitive. Beyond that, my life is immensely better and less stressful living in a place where I can quickly and easily get outdoors. And it significantly improves my performance. The chances that the best people for your team all live in one geographical area are meager. You will not get the most talent-dense team without remote work, period," said Alex McGlothlin of FloQast . Organizations that see remote work as a necessary benefit for employees and as a talent acquisition strategy will have an advantage.

We’re still learning

While remote work has been available, mass work-from-home culture is still emerging. We used it to survive the early days of a pandemic, but that doesn’t mean we know best practices. "We're collectively going through a learning curve to rediscover what teams need to thrive and what firms require to strengthen and perpetuate valued and differentiated aspects of their culture. This is an odd contrast with some of the ‘butts in seats’ impulses that we also read about," said steven doll . This could lead to longer-term protections for remote work; as Jacob Ivester, MBA of GitLab said, "Office availability should probably start being seen as an ‘immutable characteristic’ by those in charge of hiring and firing, like age, gender, disability status, or race. If that person can be hired for the role and is the best candidate, they should be."

What is the case for return-to-office?

There’s a perception that return-to-office initiatives come from managers going off old instincts rather than any actual productivity data. "Glad someone is trying to use data to make decisions about this rather than ‘we feel like people are more productive in the office.’ No one cares about management’s ‘feelings’ if workers know there’s a better way and can find it elsewhere," said Becca Chambers ? of ControlUp . Ryan Saul of Streem pointed out that it is incumbent on leadership to optimize to these new ways of working, saying, "The smart CEO takes in information and evolves their business to the new environment, not one who tries to make the environment fit their pre-conceived notions of how a business should be run."

Moving past gimmicks

Companies trying to go hybrid lose the plot with return-to-office. While some workers always have a legitimate need to be in the office, adding a few flex desks won’t change an employee’s calculus. It will be seen as another sop to get them to do what they don’t want.?

"Did he have to do this hybrid work experiment? Didn't the bean bag chairs, gourmet coffee, catered food, massage, etc, from high-tech companies teach us anything? People see through gimmicks. I think it's clear what people value: personal time and space," said QT Le of First Citizens Bank .

Thanks to our other unwitting contributors, Robert R. of Certification Technology Associates, LLC and Jonathan Harrop .

Please listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast app or over on our blog , where you can read the full transcript. If you’re not already subscribed to the Defense in Depth podcast , please go ahead and subscribe now. Thanks to SpyCloud .

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