Why are companies pivoting to flexible (Hybrid or Remote) working modes?
More and more companies are experimenting with a long-term shift to fully remote or hybrid working models. In this article, I will highlight the pros and cons of a flexible workplace from a unique perspective (as an employee and employer). This can also be an eye-opening summary for individuals, managers, and organizations on what are the often unspoken pillars of why remote or hybrid (flexible) workplaces can thrive. The reason for the growing popularity of flexible work is simple, it works!
Without the former 9–5 office culture, the new norm has to be built upon a new foundation in which building trust, effective communication, clear expectations, and well-defined roles and responsibilities are vital. This can be achieved only with the right mindset and a “new generation” of leaders and managers.
It cannot be just for the sake of their employees there has to be some serious benefit for the companies as well. During the COVID-19 pandemic, countless organizations had to work remotely and discovered that remote work isn’t just a possibility in some ways, it can be better. In the following section, you will better understand why flexible work benefits both sides.
Hiring talent across the globe — for the best price
The role played by the internet and globalization are undeniable. Hundreds of collaboration tools can help people to collaborate remotely. This means the companies can hire the best talent for the needed role no matter where they live and most likely cheaper than in their home country. Yes, it’s right. Unfortunately for us 🙂 (the employees) the remote jobs usually won’t pay the same salary as the company would pay at its headquarters.
For instance the biggest fully remote tech company GitLab Inc. has more than 2000 employees working remotely from 56 countries. The company became a publicly traded company in 2021 (NASDAQ:GTLB). Despite being a US entity, they are paying different amounts of salary for the very same position depending on the employee’s residence. They use the so-called compensation calculator to ensure competitive rates .
Don’t get me wrong I am not saying this isn’t right,all I am saying is that there are two sides of the same coin and remote work benefits the companies and the employees.
Flexible work can improve business performance and employees’ well-being.
One of the more significant reasons for employees to work in a flexible way is not to have to commute to an office every day. The average US employee commutes 4.35 hours every week, in the UK, it is almost 5 hours each week that could be spent with the family (or working 🙂). Traveling isn’t the only thing, the office is full of distractions that reduce productivity (however, it is not so black and white, see later: How remote work..).
These distractions add up! A study performed by Guardian found that employees lose almost 90 minutes of productivity each day!
In addition to saving time by not commuting and improving productivity, another critical factor is the flexibility and autonomy won by the employees. People want to work in a flexible working environment and spend quality time with family, do some sports, take up hobbies or even do side projects.
Moreover, flexible work can also save money on the employees’ side too. Rising housing costs around the world mean fewer and fewer people can afford to live close to their workplaces, thus they spend more time commuting to that end they are more likely to look for a flexible workplace to decrease the wasted time with commuting, making the flexible companies more appealing to the workforce.
Remote work kills creativity?
Why did I give the headline of this article Flexible work is the future?! instead of calling it simply Remote work is the future! ? Nowadays, some of the leading companies request their colleagues to work in a hybrid fashion, thus spending some time in the office due to the following reasons: to embrace innovation, creativity, and interpersonal connections.
Earlier this year, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook requested that the employees should spend at least three days a week in the office because “innovation is not always a planned activity”. Other leading companies’ CEOs have followed this hybrid workplace model (like Disney and Salesforce) to be more creative and innovative.
But based on this phenomenon, can we say that remote work kills innovation and therefore fails the future of work? The answer is not black and white. MIT and Microsoft did extensive research on this subject. They both have found — independently from each other — that remote work weakens cross-functional, inter-team connection therefore could weaken innovation.
Mindset change and new best-practices or stuck in the past!
McKinsey’s research shows a different reality despite the conclusion of the previous section. According to this study, during the COVID pandemic’s 2 years, there has been a record number of patents across the globe.
McKinsey suggests that more innovative companies have developed new ways of connecting remote workers together in the new era of remote and hybrid work. Unfortunately, companies like Disney or Apple have not adopted the new perspective on how innovation works which hinders innovation and is not well suited for the modern era. According to the study hybrid and remote innovation is doable. But it requires a different mindset compared to the classic office environment innovation. It requires adopting best practices and mindset changes that address the weakening of spontaneous interpersonal interactions and cross-functional connections.
All things considered, many companies believe the future workplace is the flexible way, then again we have to address the necessary mindset change and adapt the best practices to avoid the disadvantages caused by the weakening interpersonal connections in remote workplaces. In an upcoming article, I will go into detail on What does the future-proof flexible company look like? What are the best practices, challenges and toolkits overcome these issues.
