Office. Remote. Mandatory Mondays. Flexible Fridays. While the where-to-work tug-of-war between managers and the managed continues, calmer heads can prevail. To make this possible, work to improve employee well-being regardless of where they work and implement solutions that take some heat out of the argument.
From the smallest business to the largest multinational, leaders have long sought to encourage and simplify communication. Workplace stress frequently results from poor communication—with managers and colleagues feeling too communicated with due to the same technologies that made remote work possible. Additionally, less than 40% of workers do not feel comfortable using workplace resources to address such stressors.
By maximizing technological advances, communication can be optimized among remote and in-office workers, and between workers and their managers, overcoming many barriers to hybrid work. These technologies can also give management real-time insights into what workers are experiencing, allowing them to act before it is too late and they see toxicity, turnover, or missed goals and objectives.
HERE, THERE, OR ANYWHERE (WITH WIFI)
With the right training and skills, employees can work from anywhere on a remote, hybrid, or in-office schedule. As the pandemic’s disruption showed, workplaces can adapt to remote work when necessary. However, as that became the norm, new problems developed. Conflicting studies continually trickle out, some showing increased productivity from remote workers, others finding support for the opposite.
According to Microsoft, while 87% of remote knowledge workers report themselves as productive, only 12% of business leaders trust employees are productive when out of sight. This wide discrepancy underscores the entrenched nature of the disconnect.
I believe the disparity stems from a commonly misconceived benefit of in-office work. Business leaders overestimate the benefit of “butts in seats,” placing outsized importance on the need to see workers to maintain peak productivity. Furthermore, many leaders feel that connections forged in-office make them better able to understand and address barriers to maximum productivity.
However, much has been written about why this is not the case—with top-level management only aware of 4% of their companies’ problems. I believe engagement, not observation, is the solution. Whether in office or not, executives can only begin to understand problems experienced by front-line workers through meaningful engagement. While in-office interactions strengthen ties, the nature of the business means workers will always hold back the harsher truths.
You’ve likely heard the cliche “Don’t shoot the messenger.” Without a uniquely powerful bond to overcome workers’ self-preservation instinct, even popular managers will struggle to find fully open and honest messengers to keep them informed of business shortcomings.
WHAT IF EVERYONE IS RIGHT?
I believe what this boils down to is but the newest iteration of flawed corporate boardroom thinking that one size does fit all. From city to city, from day to day, in-office work varies widely. On the one hand, in-office work fosters creativity and facilitates team bonding, leading to greater productivity. On the other hand, studies have shown increased productivity from remote workers.
One study has demonstrated why using data can give leaders and workers some common ground to work from. Working remotely saves workers time—time they largely use in two ways. They use about half of their time to leisure and family, while devoting 40% of time savings to work. The upshot? Employees, when given the choice, will devote their time to well-being and work. Managers can trust that employees will help themselves and the business, even when out of sight.
While this has obvious lessons for remote work, it has significance for in-office work as well. If those working remotely can be trusted to find a healthy work-life balance in a way that helps themselves and the business, they can be trusted to do so while in-office as well. If leaders improve communication, they can not only maximize their own health, but that of the company as well.
As mentioned earlier, frontline workers are the first ones to know about issues with business functions. But to understand those shortcomings, leaders cannot rely on techniques of the past. Rather, management should take advantage of the same thing that enabled remote work: tech in the workspace.
Research has shown that physical proximity, or lack thereof, is not the variable driving success in results, collaboration, innovation, or harmonious cultures. It comes down to how your culture—your people—interact or don’t interact to achieve your organization’s goals.
WAYS TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP
Just as technology enabled remote work, further advances can bridge communication gaps between remote and in-office work. As mentioned above, workplace communication has long been a major source of stress. In order to optimize remote and hybrid employees working together, understanding that stress is paramount.
Wearable technology that reads the physiological signs of stress is one thing that can help workers understand their stressors. This can be even more effective when coupled with other technologies to mitigate those stressors (full disclosure: Fierce offers this service) and increase the use of company-supplied resources.
Apple and Meta bet big on the future of automated and virtual reality technologies. With a combined net worth in the trillions, these behemoths aren’t gambling for a niche market. Integrating new technologies has several benefits, including bringing remote and in-office workers together in ways previously unimaginable.
It also bridges the gap between managers and workers who favor a return to the office and those preferring remote work. Traditionally marginalized groups disproportionately prefer remote flexibility, and better tech can help avoid alienating those workers and destroying any progress DEI initiatives have made.
Most importantly, tech can help broaden your talent pool. If you limit your hiring pool to a 20-mile radius, you severely reduce potential hires. Adopting AR, VR, and other technologies in the workplace can help widen the hiring pool and ensure workers are well integrated into the workplace.
Leaders choosing remote or in-office work should realize the pros and cons of both, and implement available technologies to optimize worker well-being and performance—wherever those workers may be.
Edward Beltran is the CEO of Fierce Conversations, an entrepreneur, and an avid cyclist.