Clocking In From the Couch: Deciphering the Remote Work Riddle

I get asked a lot about my thoughts on remote and hybrid work. Is it here to stay? Is it actually productive? With the looming recession and some companies mandating returning to the office, is this type of work at risk? Let’s dig into this.

Let’s start with some perspective: back in 1993, Peter Drucker declared the office obsolete. As Drucker wrote in the WSJ, ''It is now infinitely easier, cheaper and faster to do what the nineteenth century could not do–move information, and with it office work, to where the people are.” So, what happened? Why were people still commuting ridiculous hours, sitting at a desk for 8 to 10 or even more hours a day, almost 30 years later?

My belief is that companies and HR have really missed the opportunity to innovate work. There are likely many factors for this, including the way most companies are plagued by a short-term mindset and that change is simply so hard. Many of us fell into the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” pattern of thought.

But the problem is, work was broken. And we didn’t really acknowledge it. Pre-pandemic employee engagement had been low in poll across poll for several years. The workforce was disgruntled in general and overworked. We talked about inclusivity and diversity, and spent hours thinking about how we could support working parents or caregivers, but we never did the hard work to figure out how to create successful non-traditional workplaces. If you were one of the lucky few who could work remotely, you were likely also passed over for raises and career opportunities.

The weird part was that we had all of this technology and no one was really using it to challenge their thinking about how we work. When I worked in corporate at a global job before 2015, I would take early meetings at 5 or 6 AM from home before commuting in Los Angeles traffic to work in the office for 8 to 10 hours a day–and then I continued to work nights and weekends. It was a ridiculous schedule that simply wasn’t sustainable.

I know that unfortunately, my experience wasn’t unique. My boss, my peers, and my team all led the same life. Even though our company preached work-life balance, we were being rewarded for having no work-life balance. Meanwhile, everyone was on the brink of burnout and it showed in our interactions.

The bottom line is this: No one was focused on how we work effectively or how we create places where people loved to work. Maybe we paid lip service to it, but very few places were intentional about creating cultures that were unique, attractive, and thoughtful about how work gets done.

It was only when the pandemic happened that most companies were forced to enact change and then suddenly all our problems with the way we worked were exposed. We couldn’t hide anymore. Companies were caught off guard because they weren’t prepared. Organizations that had used “perks” like free food and ping pong tables to build “culture” were scrambling. It also became abundantly clear that companies realized they hadn’t done enough for the caregiver or parent experience as many people were trying to balance childcare, online school, and work.

And then slowly people started to have Zoom burnout. I had many people tell me in the second quarter of 2020 that they were in back-to-back Zoom meetings for 12 hours a day. Some of that was necessary to make sure your business could survive COVID, but a lot of it was just business as usual. This called into question how productive it really was to sit in back-to-back meetings all day.

So, what should we be doing now, in 2023? What are the best ways to work? Should we accept remote work with open arms, and how do we make these hard decisions?

If you are a CEO, it’s time to embrace that how you grew your career is not how this next generation is going to embrace the workplace. You can’t get stuck in the “I paid my dues and everyone has to” mindset, or rely on the Jamie Dimon statement, “If you’re not in the office, you’re not hustling.” These are old paradigms, and you need to develop a new way of thinking–or else you’ll kill your business.

I suggest being curious and open-minded. Make sure you’re actively listening and meeting people where they are. Embrace and model a culture of experimentation to get this right, knowing that some things will work great and others will not.

As CEO, it’s your job to set the path and vision, and to empower your team to experiment. You should also get really intentional about the culture you want to build, treating it as a business challenge–because that’s what it is. Make sure your company is looking at things like Glassdoor and engagement surveys to amplify what’s working in your culture and structurally fix areas that need improvement.

When it comes to the remote-or-not-remote decision itself, you need to make sure you have a compelling reason for it. Avoid directives or blanket statements about facetime or commitment. This is a new world, and those that think differently will have the best shot at attracting and retaining the best talent–and being successful in the long term. Without a compelling reason “why” behind your decision, it will cause significant disengagement.

It’s high time for us to embrace flexibility and move beyond the in-person-“good,” WFH-“bad” binary. Remote and hybrid work is here to stay, and it is both useful in countless ways and more inclusive. As we continue to question and advance the way we work, we need to cultivate innovative work cultures–and being open-minded and curious about non-traditional work environments will ensure your company is set up for long-term success.