One thing that stood out to me during the pandemic is the willingness of leaders to embrace a remote workforce.  A lot of great work was done by HR and other departments to embrace the remote workforce and implement programs to maintain productivity.  The benefits were clear.  Tools like video conferencing technology allowed companies to save a lot of money in office space and travel spend.  Employees got a more flexible work schedule and less commuting hassles (and a cheaper dry cleaning bill!).  Everyone wins!  Or do they?

In the last two years, every one of these companies announced Return To Office (RTO) policies, most of which mandated spending four or five days in the office.  Corporate leaders abandoned the remote workforce for reasons like:

• “Strengthen the culture”
• “I have no doubt the office is the best place to work”
• “Preserve our company’s ‘unique environment’ and ‘high energy culture’
• Homeworking is an ‘aberration’ (yes, real quote from Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon)
• “Benefits of working together are ‘substantial and irreplaceable’

What changed?  Did leaders see major reductions in productivity or did they just fall back to their Pre-COVID approach?  It’s not really clear how working remotely affects employee productivity:

• Research from Stanford University has found that remote workers can be equally or even more productive than in-office employees.
• Studies from Cornell University showed the biggest factor on productivity is the personal preference of the worker – some thrive in office environments while others prefer the flexibility (and less distractions) of working remotely.

55% of those able to work remotely have a hybrid work environment while 25% work remote exclusively

The bottom line is there are so many factors that affect productivity that it’s hard to tell how much influence a remote or in-office environment has on it.  Here is what we do know (Gallup Hybrid Work Survey):

• About a quarter of those who can work remote do so exclusively (peaked at 70% during the pandemic).
• About 20% of those able to work remotely work on-site.  This peaked at 60% before the pandemic.
• 55% of those who can work remotely have a hybrid work environment.  This number has been rising since 2020.

So who wins?  Will CEOs regret their in-office mandates while dealing with retention issues and a disgruntled workforce?  Or will remote employees be cultural disconnects holding the company back from reaching business goals?  The answer is neither.  If employees are able to work remote AND they want to work remote, hybrid work environments are the best way to align the needs/wants both groups.

Employees realize this.  From the same Gallop poll, those working remotely listed the top advantages as:

• Improved work-life balance
• More efficient use of time
• Less burnout
• Higher productivity

And the top challenges as:

• Less access to work resources and equipment
• Less connected to the organization’s culture
• Decreased collaboration with team
• Reduced cross-functional communication/collaboration

Companies should work with employees to find the right balance, working enough days in the office to spend time with co-workers and build relationships, have access to resources/equipment, and just plain have fun with fellow employees.  And leaders should invest resources to make the time employees spend working remotely as productive as possible.  This is the future of the productive work environment. 

So, it turns out, our CEO vs. Employee battle is indeed a tie.

Next week I’ll discuss strategies to keep remote employees engaged and productive.  In the meantime, if you would like more information, visit Pew Research Center to understand remote workers views on the subject or read 10 Factors Affecting Productivity at Work by Sudarshan Somanathan.

Need help understanding how your company’s remote working policies are affecting culture and productivity? Contact Eddie (estewart@ESTalentSolutions) for a free conversational diagnostic. In a few short minutes, you could receive practical tips to improve the efficiency of your HR ecosystem.