In an ironic twist. Zoom orders staff back to the office...

I work 100% from home working for corporate doing pharmacy analysis and drug utilization reviews. It’s amazing and would never want to go back to an office or retail setting after having experienced it for the past three years.

 

I’ve found that I’m much more productive from home than in the office. The key is to have a foolproof way to monitor and maintain metrics to make sure individuals aren’t taking advantage of it.

 

Its been coming for awhile. I think most companies are waiting for a downturn to force office work and/or layoffs. Those that are 100% remote will likely be the first to be let go.

 

The easiest way is to split the workforce into two categories, one is "gig" work and metrics are measured by completion of task with due date. The other is "hourly" which for full time is usually 40hours+ a week. Very similar to fixed vs cost type contracts.

 

Not only production. Sense of team, training of younger staff, collaborative problem solving, and communications can all be additional challenges. It's easy to disappear in a zoom call compared to a conference room. It is also much more difficult to build a relationship with your employees and client so you are all more than just a cog on the wheel. Every industry is different but those are our challenges.

 

So no more zoom meetings being naked from the waist down?

Well poop.

 

Those are the reasons cited by my CEO for having everyone back in the office 3x a week. He acknowledged the workforce has proven it is productive working from home but wanted to maintain culture, community, and provide a place to sound ideas and better train the younger workers. I can’t say he’s wrong as I have impromptu meetings all the time when in office that simply do not happen when remote.

 

We are in the office 3 days a month fully Tues-Thurs once a month. As an executive I’m in more frequently though. Our productivity is very high. Our onboarding and getting people integrated is admittedly much slower. It’s been great for retention and recruiting though since many of our competitors are back in the office so we get highly qualified people who like the home based work. We will see how it goes but its been, what, coming up on 3 1/2 years?

 

Exactly. I work in large corp with option to work virtual. imo it’s underestimated the preference to work from home, especially if someone has tried it for at least a few months.

 

Zoom existed long before the Pandemic and was mostly used by educational institutions and other remote hosting groups. Fortunately (for them) they IPO’d about a year before Covid hit, and WFH was like pouring oil on a gas fire for their valuation. Kaboom.

Now, they’ll probably evolve part way back to largely being used more for their original intentions-remote conferences, educational workshops-than as a broad WFH tool.

 

No more sexual harassment complaints from the wife for doing it, either.

 

as I said, it is highly variable by industry, when collaborative problem solving is required or detailed instructions required, in person always wins in my book. I'm in the civil engineering business so every job is different and comes with a unique set of challenges, not much repetition. we have some that work remotely but it is less efficient to do so and they are experienced employees.

 

My world is IT and for the vast majority of individuals and teams, efficiency increses with WFH. As does overall happiness and retention.

A certain amount of spontaneous creativity is lost with out the hallway conversations that spring a great idea, but those eureka moments are very rare. I do think it's worth thinking about how much is lost in the big picture without that natural collaboration that happens, but 3+ years in, it doesn't appear that IT has suddenly lost the ability to innovate.

The competitive advantage for the employer offering remote work is undeniable. And with IT, the natural shortage of labor is allowing labor to maintain leverage here against capital. I don't see the IT shortage getting fixed anytime soon (save AI or someother macro event), so I see labor winning this, particularly as businesses unload costly office spaces. It's a wonderful opportunity to rethink urban zoning as well.

 

You can, but that might cause a stink among your colleagues.