Return to office (RTO) versus work from home (WFH) is proving to be a debate for the ages. Everyone has an opinion and his or her own bias. Often, employees and job candidates are seeking remote options. They have grown used to working more independently and with the conveniences that come from being at home.
On the other hand, leadership feels RTO is the better option, so people can connect, brainstorm, and innovate in spontaneous ways that are not possible on the computer. Many also suggest that employees are not productive at home (even though many studies have proven otherwise).
READ: Is Work from Home DOA?
Recently, HR Exchange Network spoke with Iwo Szapar, Remote Work Advocate, Influencer, and CEO of Remote-how, who shared his thoughts on what the future holds for RTO and WFH:
HREN: What do you think is going to happen with the great debate between employees, who largely want to continue working remotely, and employers, who want to return to the office?
IS: It's a tricky question. It would have been easier to answer this question a couple months ago, before we knew that a recession was [likely] coming. Then, we would have said that it is talent dictating terms. Things are changing. Still, because the talent shortage is real, even though the layoffs are happening, there are still not enough people in the market with a certain skill set. I believe that this is temporary.
When we're looking into the future, years from now, remote work is here to stay. We’ll transition into the remote-first approach because hybrid work is like having hybrid cars. They are not as bad as those that run on gas alone, but they’re not as perfect for addressing the climate crisis as electric cars.
READ: Hybrid Work: Getting Leaders to Stay Connected with Teams
What we see is that companies choosing hybrid are facing challenges. The main one is that companies are renaming return to office as hybrid. Actually, you need to change a lot of stuff [to go hybrid] and that's why the remote-first approach is the way to go. But again, this is a change management process [that requires metaphoric] blood and tears. It will take years. When we're looking at the changes in the market, leaders are the ones who need to change a lot. Many of the challenges existed way before [the pandemic]. We've been talking about all the micromanagement and the lack of trust and spending your whole day at meetings, and the list goes on.
HREN: What about the argument that some in leadership are making that if you aren't meeting face-to-face, you're going to lack collaboration, you're going to lack that sense of camaraderie, and you won't innovate as much and you might if your in the office?
IS: Remote first doesn't mean that we're not meeting each other in person ever, right? If you look at companies like GitLab, for example, that are all remote or companies that are hybrid, like HubSpot, they are still meeting in person. But there is a reason why they are meeting. In most cases, it's to build relationships and company culture. On one side, there are company-wide events, where people are flying in. But then there are specific events. Basically, look at this as a community. It's no longer company and employees. It's a community of people that are spending a lot of time together, then you're looking at this type of event on a country level, on a city level, on a state level. But you need to personalize it. You need to look at what people want to do, where they want to do it, and how we can make this work.
Innovation and collaboration, before the pandemic, saw hundreds or thousands of companies that were running remote workshops and brainstorming, innovating, and prototyping. They were not remote companies, but their people were in two different countries or two different cities. And they would meet online. It was already happening.
The facilitation skills are super important [in person or online]. When we're talking about structuring our work, unfortunately, many of these innovation collaborations are not organized or run well. How many times have you been to a meeting where there were 10 people around the table, and eight of them were on their phones or answering emails?
WATCH: Getting the Balance Right: Remote Work and Flexibility
HREN: What message do you want to get across about remote work to HR leaders who may be tuning into this?
IS: Be prepared for a longterm fight. Also, it’s about freedom of choice. If someone wants to go to the office five days a week, then that’s amazing and we should do everything possible to accommodate his or her needs. But in most places those who want to work full-time in the office are the minority.
Make sure that you meet the expectations of both of these groups. Then, the second thing is that once you get the buy in from the leadership, be ready for a long game. Be ready for laden fears and challenges. This is a change management process. There will be a lot of failures, mistakes. It's an iteration process, and you need to keep changing things. You need to keep adjusting. You need to be open to feedback.
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