Why Estimates for Remote Working Feel Exaggerated?

Several parts of the world are reopening and getting back to business a key focus for many.

For experience oriented businesses, such as hotels and amusement parks, it’s about making teams and customers feel safe.

The picture is slightly different for others, such as some small businesses or large corporates, who have some choice. Here, although it will eventually be safe to return to work, the question is, how many will really do so? 

What Are the Estimates?

The Fortune 500 CEO Survey for American companies suggests that c. 26% of the CEOs expect that there will never be a time when 90% of their workforce to return to their normal work place. UBS said that a third of its employees might go remote for good.

What About the Actuals?

Actuals don't disappoint.

While Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, said that employees could work from home forever, Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify, tweeted that offices would be shut until 2021 and even after that, most would take on remote working permanently.

Job stats align with the narratives. There's a surge in adverts for remote roles and even the applications for these roles. A recent Gallup poll revealed that only 25% workers were emotionally ready to return.

Between employers and employees, it’s a little difficult to tell who’s leading and who’s following but either ways, the marriage seems to be working - and for very logical reasons.

Why Remote Is Working?

1. The Transition Has Been Successful

Many organisations, such as financial firms, have undergone more digitisation in days than they'd been able to drive in years. This rapid transition in ways of working is now so embedded that perhaps the most frictionless solution is to continue this as much as possible. Employees show up on calls and in many cases productivity is actually higher. Contradictory to previous concerns, this actually works.

2. There Are Efficiencies to Harness

Not only does it work, it’s also efficient. With a bulk of the initial investment now out of the way, on-going maintenance costs would probably be only a small fraction of bricks-and-mortar based alternatives. That could be a win-win for firms.

What about the people?

3. Many of Us Feel This Works Well

Many of us feel that we don’t actually want to be going into work that often. Referring to the same Gallup poll, if we break down the 75% who don’t yet feel ready to return, 25% of these views are driven by fear which may fade over time, but 50% of us think that we'd prefer to work from home permanently. The figures don't surprise me considering all the time and money saved by cutting out commute, more time with the family etc.

Whether this is about the mindsets, method or lifestyles, the transition feels complete and this digital legacy feels too immense not to harness. 

So Then What Could Get in the Way?

1. Good Old Fear of Missing out (FOMO)

For those who went to work earlier, think about this.

Why did we really make those long arduous journeys into the office?

Did we not know that digital options exist? Or did we not believe in them? Did we not have global colleagues dialling in so as to know that this is feasible?

I think we are kidding ourselves if we think that we went to work purely because we didn’t know or believe in digital alternatives. We always knew this can work.

I think we are kidding ourselves if we think that we went to work purely because we didn’t know or believe in digital alternatives.

The way I read this, the reasons we went to work had more to do with meeting emotional needs than compensating for technical deficiencies.

Sure, many of us love this newfound space and some will make it a way of life. I totally get that.

But what many don’t realise is that current optimism is based on a scenario where none of our colleagues are going to work. In this scenario, the office is essentially shut.

There's no fear of missing out simply because there's nothing to miss out on.

There's no fear of missing out simply because there's nothing to miss out on! 

Add to that the fear of job losses prevalent on many minds.

The question here is that when the workplace is back in action, anxieties will be running deep and people will have a choice, how many will have the courage to risk being out of sight and perhaps, out of mind.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that there should be fear - not at all. But based on everything I've seen, heard and sensed in my 22 years of corporate life, I invite you to dig deeper.

I've seen managers complain about work travel but many have also been honest enough to tell me that they make such efforts simply to be seen there although they had nothing to contribute. I'm not suggesting this is right, I'm only suggesting this is more prevalent than we'd like to think.

Let me give you a simple comparison of the two scenarios.

During a total closure of office space, a key finance meeting would mean that there’ll be some 15 odd faces on the screen, and just like everyone else, you'd be part of the picture. No FOMO. But roll forward a few months and imagine that the same meeting will be hosted in the Board Room and as always, you have the option to dial in.

Might you feel a tug to attend in person if you had the ability to do so? Might being there in person help your ability to network? What about the conversations before and after the meeting? What about the side conversations during the meeting? What about being seen as a voice on the table? Given that I’ve been told countless times that it’s about who I know and not what I know, I simply wonder if cultures and mindsets will interfere with our ability and intent to work remotely.

Sure, not everyone will be rushing to make an appearance but human behaviour is not exactly straight math.

Human Behaviour is not exactly straight math.

As for firms, they’ll have problems of another kind.

2. How to Keep the Brand Alive?

I took on a new role with a new firm a few months ago and was assigned to a shared workspace.

I went from a job where I was at a corporate head office and saw a very strong sense of brand identity to another where I was sharing space and saw little or no visible branding of my employer.

To explain how this felt, the best comparison I can think of is like living at home vs. putting up at a hotel. Both might be comfortable but there’s something there about identity and feeling, 'hey, I'm an integral part of this and so proud!'

Both might be comfortable but there’s something there about identity and feeling, 'hey, I'm an integral part of this and so proud!'

I adapted, most will.

But I can’t help think that for firms, if too many people work remotely, keeping the brand alive will be of huge concern.

For firms, keeping the brand alive will be of huge concern.

I imagine that this will begin to reflect in metrics such as employee engagement scores, values, conduct, culture, consistency, and even attrition. This will be true especially of new starts as they’d be missing the initial orientation and so I'd expect more early life attrition.

You see when we go to the office, even if this is just few days a week, changing jobs is more than just changing letterheads. Many resist change simply because of the familiarity of those coffee meets with colleagues, the office gym, or even the familiarity of the commute. We seldom realise how conditioned we are.

We seldom realise how conditioned we are.

But if we were to subtract all those subtleties from the equation and embrace remote working as norm, then changing employers might simply mean that you’d still be sat on the same kitchen table, logging on to a very similar looking device. In the grand scheme of life, changing jobs could come to mean a lot less.

As for the warning signs of employee disengagement, behaviours such as arriving late or leaving early, being withdrawn in meetings, would be hard to spot. So for employers, it would be difficult to know when to intervene.

I think there are more challenges. Based on my coaching conversations, people miss basic leadership and guidance. The interactions with managers are very task focussed or simply just virtual fun events. That something meaningful in between, such as an intelligent non-work human dialogue with colleagues is becoming increasingly rare as many suffer device fatigue and want to eliminate nice to have conversations.

Conclusion

We'll see an increase in remote working. We have assets that work and a digital legacy to uphold and we’ll do so successfully.

But unless firms go fully digital, remote working might not be as popular as we imagine it to be because the current numbers are based on a scenario when the office is fully shut and everybody is at home. When offices reopen, FOMO will kick-in. Anxieties relating to job losses or even missing out on growth opportunities will drive many people into work. Since this need is more psychological than technical, to make a true shift, mindsets will have to keep up with methods.

For firms that plan to make office a thing of the past, their greatest challenge will be on how to keep the brand alive. The identity crisis will be real and in striking the right balance between brand identity and efficiency, some tough decisions might have to be made.

**

Vinita Ramtri is a coach, author, speaker and a finance professional. You can contact Vinita on [email protected] or 07817256077. For more articles, visit vinitaramtri.com