Working from home (WFH) is becoming the new Brexit or Covid.
Depending on your point of view you may find yourself directly opposed to people that up till that point you had always respected.
A recent slight against home workers comes from Lord Stuart Rose, former CEO of M&S, former chairman of Asda. Lord Rose told BBC Panorama: “We are creating a whole generation and probably a generation beyond that of people who are used to actually not doing what I call proper work”.
In this interview, he linked WFH with a regression in working practices, productivity and personal development.
And he’s not alone in wanting people to return to the office. Lord Alan Sugar has, yet again, called for it. This time telling the BBC: “They’ve got to get their bums back into the office”.
Amid all of this, we’re seeing a growing number of organisations mandating that staff attend work in person five days a week.
What’s going on here? And what does the data tell us about the impact of WFH and hybrid working?
No clear evidence that WFH impacts productivity
Rebecca Florisson, a principal analyst at the Work Foundation at Lancaster University told The Guardian: “There is no convincing evidence that remote and hybrid working is affecting companies’ productivity or bottom line”.
However, there is a blizzard of statistics you can use to support a particular belief or theory.
For example, a Forbes study indicates a 10-20% reduction in productivity for fully remote workers. While, on the other side of the fence, a 2023 CIPD report shows 38% of organisations say more hybrid working has increased their organisation’s productivity.
The positive take is adopted by many large organisations highlighting flexible working as an employee benefit to attract and retain staff.
Lord Rose at least had the self-awareness to acknowledge that he is an ‘unreconstructed get-back-to-work man’, and that flexibility is needed to accommodate individual and particular needs.
I’m curious, though, about the underlying psychology behind leaders who feel people need to return to the office five days a week. Does this belief stem from trust or control issues? Or is something else going on? Let’s explore…
Is it about lack of trust?
Lack of trust is one of the more prominent reasons for getting people back to the office. We commonly hear the view: ‘When people work from home, I can’t see them, and I have no idea what they’re doing’.
Studies have shown that golf has boomed during and post-Covid so there may be some truth in this.
Equally, for someone with young kids, the ability to drop off and collect them from school may be a vital priority which helps them feel good and focus more on doing great work.
Is it about loss of control?
Control, or lack of, is another central argument: ‘I want to know what people are doing and if they are WFH I have no control over this’.
Remote working monitoring technology has partially bridged this gap, but this has provoked criticism of being overly obtrusive and Big Brother-esque.
Is it about what is meant by ‘proper work’?
Many types of work lend themselves to an environment that is quiet and potentially more controllable. How do you put a value on thinking?
Most organisations want more innovation and pace. Yet managers and employees often complain about back-to-back meetings, with no time available to process meeting outputs, let alone reflection and creative thinking.
Is it an unconscious nostalgia for ‘the good old days’?
Perhaps there’s a longing for an earlier and less complicated time. The pre-social media, pre-Covid era, when everyone regularly travelled to and from their place of work. The halcyon days of water-cooler conversations and drinks after work.
Is it about belonging?
Having everyone in the office can create a certain buzz and energy. We cannot deny that the social dimension of in-person time with colleagues and clients is an important factor in building relationships and enhancing teamwork.
Bet let’s be honest. People can be busy without being productive, and a buzzy atmosphere may create an illusion of outcome-based activity.
Perhaps it’s about an unpacked bundle of all of the above?
I must declare an agenda here.
Pecan’s purpose is to create workplace cultures where people love to work and customers love to do business, so in that context I am largely agnostic about home working versus office working.
It’s not about the place. It’s not about either / or. It is about how people connect and collaborate, how decisions are made and how leaders finds creative ways to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the team and organisation.
At the heart of the challenge, it is about the quality of your conversations and the relationships you build.
When seeking out the solution, how about engaging the next generation to support you?
More than three-quarters of UK Gen Zs (77%) and millennials (71%) would consider looking for a new job if their employer asked them to go into their workplace full-time. We cannot ignore this preference.
Without a deliberate and inclusive approach to a hybrid working strategy, it falls back on what a small number of bosses feel is the right thing for everyone. Unfortunately, it’s too late. The freedom of WFH has been experienced and appreciated by so many that this particular train has left the station a long time ago.
But given the typical age, profile and working life of senior leaders in large organisations, it is understandable why people like Lord Rose and Lord Sugar tend to be behind the push for a return to the office.
Time will tell how this plays out in terms of corporate winners and losers.
