During a recent live Business Leadership development workshop, one of my participants was sharing some of his frustrations with the current work environment and the fact that the velocity and complexity of change is increasing so quickly that he doesn’t have time to do his “real” work. “I don’t get it. I’m so busy in a day reacting and responding to things that I send myself an email for every issue I can’t get to and then when I get back online after I put my kids to sleep, that’s when I respond and actually do some work. And there are some nights where I have another 20 things to do.” One of the other cohort members asked if he would be more productive if he worked at home more.
“That’s not the type of job that I have. My employees are in the field with customers. That’s where I need to be so I can coach and be effective, so I can meet my objectives. I can’t do that by working at home. And besides, like I just said, I do work at home! It’s just every night after my day job is over.”
The debate on the concept of working at home continues. As many of you have read, we are starting to see a shift in terms of companies changing their work-at-home policies. Yahoo and IBM are just a few recent examples. Regardless of your situation, the issues and challenges are going to be similar; how do you get the most out of people who are demanding different ways of working.
It’s the elephant in the room that everyone is afraid to talk about, so let’s talk about it. Over the past year, I’ve spoken to large company CEOs and small company CEOs about this and there are definitely things to share.
Perspective
Back in the mid-1980’s every HR and Talent Development conference we went to included dozens of speakers and vendors espousing the virtues of the “flexible workforce.” Because of the perceived need for more flexibility and a different working environment – and because of escalating real estate costs – organizations started letting employees work remotely and set up “hoteling” offices for when people came to work.
Back then, the so-called experts predicted there would be no more offices and all meetings where going to be conducted at a coffee shop (one of the reasons Starbucks exploded in the 1990s) or in some sort of shared space. Well, here it is 2019 and not only did this not come true (only about 5 million households work remotely fulltime) the trend is to bring all remote workers back to work.
To get more data, I looked at the most current Survey of the US Workforce published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is a fascinating accumulation of information and trends about the US workforce.
It took a while, but one of the most important data points is that the number of US employees who have worked fully or partially from home was 23% in 2017 which was down 2% from 2016.
Meanwhile, it seems clear that working at home and flexibility of hours is of critical importance to Millennials. In an article sponsored by Human Capital Management leaders ADP published in Forbes magazine call Workplace Flexibility for Millennials: Appealing to A Valuable New Generation the author presents a compelling story about what the next generation of worker values from their job including:
- Telecommuting
- Part-time schedule
- Flexible schedule
- Alternative schedule
- Freelance work
Yet, at the same time addition data shows that the macro US workforce is far more interested in other element such as Healthcare, 401K programs, and bonuses with Remote Work being at the bottom of their list. It seems that very reliable data sources are painting a very different and potentially volatile picture of the workplace and the expectations of employees.
So, what are organizations and leaders supposed to do? Are there different approaches and tools that should be used to figure out a solution?
Even if one were to conclude that remote working will rise based on the needs of a new workforce, it doesn’t take away from the fact that major companies in addition to IBM and Yahoo such as Apple, Google, Caesars, Best Buy, Honeywell and Bank of America have all abandoned their work at home programs. While some employees rejoiced for the opportunity of getting back to a collaborative office environment, I would be willing to bet that the majority did not.
But why? Why have these companies decided to eliminate work at home programs? My personal hypothesis, based and watching and observing big companies, is based in Business Acumen. It’s simple, revenues, profit, and innovation have gone down.
The science of Business Acumen tells us that there are usually no absolutes; that the system of business works itself out over time. I still believe that a mixed policy of work at home and being in the office can optimize effectiveness. At the suggestion of a group of employees at my company Advantexe, we have instituted something called “Work at Home Wednesdays.” The idea is that Wednesday can be that day to focus on the pure work; no meetings in the office, no surprises, and no other co-workers lurking about asking about expense receipts. Just the work.
In speaking with business leaders about this issue in general and how to solve it, others have taken to a flexible program where one or two designated days a week are work at home days. In order to be effective, there must be three elements in place including:
- Total Trust of Your Team
- Metrics and Key Performance Indicators
- Accountability to the Metrics
Each of these three elements must be taken seriously and follow-through is key. One the bond of trust is broken, it won’t work. And if you don’t establish the metrics and maintain them, it won’t work. And finally, if there is no accountability which means the privilege of working at home is taken away based on performance, then it won’t work.
In summary, this is a very complex issue that requires a lot of thought and strong leadership. Business Acumen teaches us that there is a balance in everything and it’s up to you to find that right balance to optimize the effort needed to achieve your goals and objectives.