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Clearly, the Debate Isn’t Over

February 19th, 2024 by Kenneth Abrahams

Recently, on one of my cross-country trips, I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) and they had a story that they were discussing from the New York Times. It was called The Hybrid Worker Malaise. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/podcasts/the-daily/hybrid-work.html?action=click&module=audio-series-bar&region=header&pgtype=Article. One of the basic premises of the article is that the discussion of in person versus remote work versus hybrid is over. Now three or four years out from the height of the pandemic, companies have decided whether they would be fully on ground, fully remote, or some hybrid model. Employees, in turn, have decide if they liked the direction the company went in or if it was time to find a new job. Regardless of the decision, the debate is over, or is it?

Recently, the Boston Globe ran a story talking about Fidelity Investments and Deutsche Bank AG now requiring employees to return to the office. According to the story “the return-to-office mandates keep coming – and getting more specific”.

Fidelity’s new policy is that employees, starting in September, must be in the office 2 full weeks out of every four. Doubling the previous policy of one week out of every four. Deutsche Bank AG, as of June, will require managing directors to be in the office 4 days a week with all other employees in 3 days a week. They are also not allowing individuals to work from home on a Monday if they also were remote the previous Friday. Say goodbye to heading to that summer home for a long weekend.

Perhaps you are like me and thought this debate, discussion, argument was over. Clearly, those of us that made that assumption were wrong. Why now, after seemingly having settled on whatever the arrangement is with employees, are companies changing their minds? Unfortunately, this particular article didn’t address that question. It did however sound the warning that we have heard for the last several years that making a change like this can cause people to look elsewhere for employment. Maybe I am giving these companies, and others making similar changes, too much credit, but one would assume that they have factored disgruntled employees into the equation. Or maybe, just maybe, they are confident that they provide such an incredible work environment that nobody would dare leave. One other explanation is that they are finding out that some of what was featured in the Times article is reason enough to roll the dice on requiring more of an on ground, in office, presence. 

Several concerns raised by the Times article may cause people to reevaluate the hybrid or remote work situations. It isn’t just the NY Times that has brought to light some of the issues with the new office culture, but the employees and employers have also voiced concerns. Several years ago, we had an intern in our office that was about to enter the workforce. At that point many companies were still fully remote, and she was concerned about taking a job with no in office expectations. How, as a recent college graduate, would she learn the ropes in a fully remote environment? Who would help mentor and guide her? How would she learn about not only her specific roles and responsibilities but the company culture? Not that she needed a job to make friends but how would she even get to really know her colleagues. Yes, there was the allure of not needing to commute either by private car or public transit. Working from home requires a different, less expensive wardrobe and there are other advantages as well. For her, as a first-time new professional, the downside outweighed the positives of being a remote employee. Those are not the only challenges faced by remote workers.

Research by the NY Times and others such as Forbes and the BBC, are finding that it is harder to get promoted as a remote worker, especially if you are competing against someone who is 9 to 5 in the office. It is not that they are intentionally being penalized but the individual that is also being considered is getting more face time with their supervisors and other executives. Promotions are not the only challenge that remote workers force. Some employees in that category also are finding that when they submit work, they get less feedback from supervisors and what they do receive can be less detailed and incomplete. As our intern feared, it is also hard to get to know co-workers and to feel like a part of a team at the office.

There is little or no doubt that working remotely has some advantages. Commute times are shortened, transportation costs are drastically reduced, dry cleaning bills are substantially decreased if they occur at all, and if children are involved getting them to and from school, games, practices and play dates becomes a whole lot easier. However, company cultures are suffering. For some that have been at their jobs a long time, this is not as big a deal. They are well acquainted with long term co-workers and may have little interest in getting to know the new people that have joined the team. Some organizations that have tried to create opportunities for staff, new and old, to get acquainted have found, at best, mixed results. Having a virtual or in person game or trivia night is appealing to some but to others it cuts into precious family time. Requiring people to come to the office on specific days can be met with resistance by those that have adapted quite well to the world of remote working. Let’s face it, forced quality bonding time will always have its detractors.

When I first heard the New York Times article being discussed. I, too, believed that the debate was over. Where and when people worked had been put to bed. As time marches on, I am less sure of that fact. Companies change and so do the people that work there. More than a few businesses have claimed that as the fear of the pandemic and losing one’s job fades, they have seen changes in productivity from remote staff workers. They are getting more concerned that the culture of the organization was much stronger when people were working together in person and that seeing one another on a computer screen just isn’t the same.

At FUN Enterprises we have a blended workforce. Our operations team is in the office as their job is impossible to do remotely. Sales staff all work remotely and only go to the office for the occasional in person staff meeting or to get equipment and the rest of the crew works a hybrid schedule. For us, it seems to be working. Personally, I enjoy the added time that I can spend working at home as opposed to commuting at least an hour each way every day. I do miss the office environment. There is a certain synergy of working with a team. Collaboration face to face is easier than over Zoom. As a person that enjoys collaboration sometimes working remotely feels very isolated. For the foreseeable future, we will keep it the way it is.

From where I sit, the discussion on hybrid, remote, or on ground is still not completely settled. Things are still evolving and changing. For those of us that are working remotely, we should thank our lucky stars that the pandemic hit in 2020 and that these discussions are happening in 2024 and not 1954. We have technology now that at least makes it possible to work in a variety of different ways and from almost anywhere in the world.

About the Author

Ken Abrahams has spent the last four years as both an observer and participant in the changes we have seen since the arrival of COVID 19. It has been a wild ride in many areas that impact his life and the situation at FUN. Four years in and we are still learning.

To find out more about the company go to our website www.funent.com you can also go to this link to sign up for our newsletter which comes out about 6 times a year    https://funent.com/subscribe-to-the-funny-pages/.  Our newsletter will tell you more about the company and the products and services we offer as well as some games, things to do, and the occasional cooking tip.