Working from a beach in Croatia... Why not?

PLS NOTE: This article was originally published on July 3, 2023.

This week I am on a family holiday with my two bonus kids and two other families of four. We have rented a house together in Istria, to celebrate the three fathers, who've all just turned 50 earlier this year. I brought my laptop, not because I was asked to, or required to, but because I wanted to. As I never know when inspiration hits or there's something I feel like taking care of right away. Like writing this article for example.

As we left the beach earlier today to go home for lunch, I walked past this guy sitting, very chilled, under a big fig tree, working away on Why nothis laptop. And that's when inspiration hit me, and I decided to write this article.

When I saw him, my first thoughts were: Wow that looks great! This is work-life quality! And why not? Why shouldn't he work from a gorgeous beach in Croatia, as opposed to being stuck in a stuffy office in July, with at least half of his co-workers off on their holidays? He probably does better work, in less time, because he has chosen where to do his work and perhaps, even when to do it. Maybe he is just like me and is working because he feels motivated to work then and there, not because he is forced to?

Now, I fully recognise and acknowledge that everyone's not as lucky as I am, to be able to choose when they work. And all jobs and roles are not suited for this type of flexible workstyle.

But for the jobs that are, there is no logical reason why the people performing them should be told when and where they are able to bring their best. I believe that the reason so many organisations still mandate "number of days required in the office" is that they are stuck in old ways of thinking about productivity. Simply due to legacy and, quite frankly, out of habit. Historically, "productivity" has been equal to "working hours" because that's what we've been able to (easily) measure. It is the path of least resistance and something that is very easy to track and control, from a management point-of-view. It is tangible and it is quantifiable.

But is "# of hours worked" a good metric of productivity? I would argue that it is not. Whether I spend 4 hours in the office, or 40 hours, tells my management absolutely nothing about how productive I am.

And I understand that this has been the number one metric, which we have been able to measure very easily, but that is no excuse to maintain an ineffective KPI, and one that is in fact as unreliable as it is inaccurate. Now that we have all the data in the world and all the solutions and systems in place, to measure actual output instead, there is no excuse to maintain an old, bad habit, is there?

Not even a "lack of trust" is a valid reason not to measure productivity accurately any longer. Real productivity data is readily available to us if we choose to look at it. And it is not even hard to read.

In addition to looking at data, leaders need to change the way they (many of them at least) think about their leadership. If I have a co-worker or direct report on my team, that I sense is quite not living up to expectations, or delivering against objectives, I am not going to get more out of them by forcing them to spend two, three or five days in the office. I need to look behind the immediate symptom and try to analyse the underlying problem.

• Are they no longer motivated? If so, why is that?
• Are they having personal problems or perhaps a health or family issue?
• Are the expectations on them not clear? Have I not communicated the objectives clearly?
• Does the person not have the right skills for the job? Can they up-skill or re-skill in that case?
• Is there something in the team dynamic that is negatively impacting their motivation?

There are so many questions that I could be asking myself, and should be asking them, before I slap a band-aid on the issue and mandate they spend xx hours a week in the office. This is the line of questioning that modern leaders, and organisations that want to stay competitive in the market for the best skilled people, need to adopt.

Modern leadership is all about having an ongoing dialogue, coach co-workers and use the data available to find the right questions to ask.

As always, I welcome and encourage you to use the comments feature, share your experiences and opinions, to continue the conversation on the topics raised in my article. It is through open and honest dialogue, that we keep challenging ourselves and one another, to keep learning and growing!