Why Hybrid and Remote First Will Win

Ok....given everyone else is making evidence less predictions, here is mine

The five day office is dead for most (and hopefully ultimately all) knowledge workers and the winners will be hybrid or (and maybe eventually in the majority) remote first (I plan on being long retired by then).

Why?

Because happy workers are the most productive and people like choice (I have zero evidence to back this up empirically but prove me wrong).

Vested interest will try and convince you otherwise - look at this timeline of the COVID narrative:

• "6ft office" - translation - you need more space (so more commissions!).
• "Employees will not be productive" translation - fear tactics to occupiers hoping they insist on employees coming back.
• Company culture will die!! - not true - bricks and mortar are not a culture - people, mission and purpose are
• "Remote employees will be left behind" translation - let's make people worried for their jobs so they decide to come back.
• Next will be...hybrid is a security risk

I think the most powerful legacy that the pandemic will leave for Corporate Real Estate is that it has empowered the employee to step back and assess what is important.

When the world shut down (just as when you lay on your deathbed) you are not thinking about being at work. You are thinking of family, friends, experiences and events you no longer have free and clear access.

When everything is taken away you assess what you really miss.

And this is what I was missing...

The pandemic gave me the best gift possible - time with my wife and daughter. A flexible work schedule has given me more memories in the last year than I could have imagined. Swim lessons, first dance class, just going to the park with friends. Without an office to go to or a flight to rush to, I can have a much more productive day, both work and family wise.

I can work early, take my daughter swimming, work some more, go to the gym and then do a little work later.

If my child care falls through? I can adjust my schedule (although that does mean the occasional interloper on a call).

And I am way happier (so according to my survey, 1 out of 1 people believe that hybrid and flexible = happy and productive)

The pandemic also gave 18 months of evidence to every employee who has ever been told "working remotely does not work" that it actually can and does. What does not work remotely is middle management, and the challenge of building effective managers in a hybrid world may be one of the biggest we face (GitLab's excellent work not withstanding).

People will still come into offices to socialize, collaborate and be around other humans - it is innate in most of us and it has value. But they will come to the space for specific reasons, not through force. If the space engenders in the individual the optimal environment to work (for them and the task at hand) they will use it.

Other pluses?

• It will be cheaper for companies that can divest of space.
• Travel will be less of an imperative (goodbye Sunday night cross country flights for a one hour meeting) and companies will encourage space to be used with purposeful intent.
• It has proven we can all impact the environment positively.
• Recruiting for hybrid opens a world (literally) of new talent.
• If your employee loves working 60 hours a week in a cubicle they can also do that

So where are the (legitimate) negatives for the employee or the employer?

If you trust, provision and empower your employees, they will be happier, more committed, work smarter (not longer - the misnomer that productivity = hours work really needs to be vanquished as well) and stay longer.

If you don't, someone else will - try Salesforce, Dropbox, Okta, Twitter, Facebook, Atlassian or even The Impec Group!!