Who benefits from working from home?
Welcome back to the Evolving Workplace Newsletter, where we will explore the changing nature of teams, collaboration, and the future of work.?
If this is your first step toward the future design of work, you can learn more about me and what I do here .
We’ve unpacked some of the aspects of how hybrid and remote work affect teams , but how do they affect individuals? There are pros and cons for everyone. Maybe you function better in an office setting. Maybe you took this opportunity to relocate. Maybe your coworkers are scattered across the country, or even the world.?
Whether or not we should return to the workplace, part-time or full-time, has been a huge topic of discussion ever since vaccines started rolling out. While some organizations like Salesforce, Amazon, Spotify, and even Ford, have embraced a “work from anywhere” future, others like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Apple, and Microsoft are requiring people back in the office (at least part time) and many are continually revising and adjusting their policies. As Jose Maria Barrero, Nick Bloom, and Steven J. Davis note in their Harvard Business Review article, Don’t Force People to Come Back to the Office Full Time , those organizations pulling people back into the office are typically arguing that? “face-to-face interactions are better for collaboration and that employees are less productive at home”.?
Opinions are similarly varied on the demand side as Nick Bloom highlights in his article, Don’t Let Employees Pick Their WFH Days . On the one hand nearly 32% of U.S. employees say they never want to return to the office, based on a survey conducted between May 2020 and March 2021. “These are often employees with young kids, who live in the suburbs, for whom the commute is painful and home can be rather pleasant. At the other extreme, 21% tell us they never want to spend another day working from home. These are often young single employees or empty nesters in city center apartments.” The study went on to show that “among college graduates with young children women want to work from home full-time almost 50% more than men.”
领英推荐
Something to consider when we’re debating in-person, hybrid, or remote models is what demographics will be affected. Not only are parents (particularly women) more likely to want to work from home, but there are also the employees with undisclosed medical conditions that may leave them immunocompromised or neurodivergent people who function better when working remotely.
I recently had a great discussion with a professional who contacted me recently after I appeared on This Working Life podcast: Feeling lonely when working from home? You’re not alone. Here’s how to reconnect. I had argued that hybrid work can leave us feeling lonely and disconnected, but this person countered, “The only thing I would say is, for me working from home is better because of having aspergers. I do not have the ability to be social that well, for example, I prefer not to associate with people outside the workplace.” However, he voiced a very real concern that organizations may disfavor work from home employees when looking at promotions - noting “Companies should be flexible to be open to such a career path and not keep people at one level just because they prefer to work at home.” This discussion was a really good reminder that we have to really try to understand the unique needs of our employees and team members.
After working remotely for so long, some people have found that it simply works better for their lives. It may offer more time to spend with their kids, flexible hours that they can adjust to the time of day when they feel most productive, or relocations closer to family or away from bustling cities. Remote work can enable us to collaborate with people around the world who we may have never interacted with in the past. There are opportunities for collaboration and innovation that never could have been possible without the mass popularization of Zoom and WFH.?
Is remote work the answer? That depends on both the organization and the individual. As always, we’re here to think critically about the future of the workplace and what that means for employees.?
The world is changing, and so is the workplace. Subscribe to The Evolving Workplace Newsletter to learn more about the changing nature of teams, collaboration, and the future of the workplace, or connect with me via email: [email protected] .?
I lead a team that sets the conditions for partners and Salesforce to de-risk and accelerate business by offering unique solutions for digital transformation and sustainable innovation.
2 年Max Ciferri Patrick Patrick Dahmen interesting data for our session on hybrid work.
Principal Consultant @ Lumi LifeTech | IT & Business Strategy Alignment
2 年I love working from home, and greatly prefer to do that 90+% of the time. However, I realize and respect that not everyone feels the same, and that there are some inherent benefits to in person, face to interactions. My ideal work scenario would be to work remote most of the time, but also to to have well planned in person functions with various cross functional, integrated teams. At these meetings we would first review our last 3-4 months of work, and then to plan our upcoming 3-4 months of work. We would also take some time to huddle on any open pressing issues that may have been left handing while working remotely. Finally, and most importantly, we need to make sure to reserve time for 'unstructured team building activities' these could consist of anything from team: coffee hour, happy hour, dinner, workouts, yoga classes, or bike rides... whatever. just SOMETHING to create shared experiences outside of just a work setting. Between our quarterly in person meeting sessions, we would continue to meet and talk via videoconf, instant messenger, email, and other collaboration tools, and would actively build the agenda for our next in-person sessions.
? I lead an internal communications agency that helps leaders create a better employee experience and build their brand from the inside. Because when your people thrive - your business will, too! ?????
2 年The biggest challenge for organizations is giving people the agency to choose their own work experience while supporting connection, collaboration and effectiveness in a fair and equal way. It is not easy. This is such an interesting time with so many possibilities.