Previously I’ve written about the ever- present divisiveness on just about every subject. No longer do we debate to a conclusion where we just “agree to disagree.” No longer exists the Ronald Reagan/Tip O’Neill mutual respect of opposing views. It’s a scorched-earth battle ending with “If we disagree on ‘this’ (anything) we can’t be friends.” Too many “bump their gums,” confusing opinion for intellect. This is allowed as we often hesitate to challenge one another for fear of being given one of the many all too convenient labels: homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, and on, and on. So, we have now reached the point where we can no longer benefit or even learn from the opposing viewpoint.

One of those hotly debated headline topics is that of remote work. I have a strong opinion on this, and unlike so many others, but indeed just like many of you, my position is built from first-hand experience. For regular readers, I have previously offered that when a policymaker in an organization starts with a suggested answer, “Just tell the customer …” or “Just tell the employee …,” it is typically a policymaker who never needs to stand face to face with the client or the employee affected by the often ill-conceived policy. They send others to collect the slings and arrows of the unpopular. You know, just because you say something doesn’t mean it’s true. Or as I’ve pointed out in heated debates with others, “Just because you’re louder, doesn’t mean you’re righter.” 

Historically, workplace disruption and recalibration has periodically occurred. For example, women in the workforce (1940s), civil rights (1960s), computerization (1990s), etc., all represent societal tectonic shifts that affected the workplace. However, they were trends that started slowly but gathered momentum over time throughout society and organizations, thus, we could assimilate and prepare for the impact. Yet, due to an epic black swan, the COVID-19 pandemic, instantly 50 million Americans were reassigned to stay at home in a new work structure known as remote. This occurred overnight, absent any assimilation or contemplation of longer-term unintended consequences. Before COVID, only 5 percent of the workforce was remote. Once COVID was discovered within just 60 days, 62 percent were working from home. However, here we are, three years later, with 40 percent still avoiding the office. 

Recently in the press, a professor of business at the prestigious Columbia University confidently stated: “We’re never going to go back to a five-days-in-the-office policy.” Humm; I wonder how many employees a professor has or even how many five-day weeks? Yet we pontificate so confidently. As was the case with most of our industry when COVID hit, we were deemed an essential employer and continued operations. At our company, we did remote the office for four months. I didn’t like it because you can’t ship steel from home, so the operations continued on-site, while only the office staff worked from home. I feared miscommunicating that one group of colleagues was more important to keep safe than the other. Eventually, I got over that emotional hurdle by recognizing “proximity safety.” Warehouse crews don’t work five feet apart. Admittedly, our temporary remote time worked just fine. I came in every day as did my fellow executives as I think optics are important. Even optics in an empty office, as no surprise, that word does get out. However, truth be told, it worked because those working remotely had worked together for decades. Yet as a tremendous wave of newbies are entering our industry and our organizations, they do not possess that historic institutional foundation nor that critical tribal knowledge.

It is essential that those who make up the next wave of talent have direct exposure to those qualified and willing to pass along the essential recipe for success. Those would be the veterans, also known as the soon-to-be dinosaurs, but they also are those with the tribal knowledge, institutional memory and, for now, the keys to the front door! Each of us has that key differentiator to our company, be it your unique selling proposition, your special sauce, or whatever. Although perhaps not popular with all audiences or all readers, I am against remote work for our industry which is experiencing epic generational change. Perhaps software developers can effectively remote as the nature of that business is primarily solo, which works best uninterrupted. However, in a collaborative industry such as ours, to collaborate you must be together. In looking back at my own lengthy career, like many of you, I have had thousands of meetings. Most effective, some not so much, and others yes, a slow death of a thousand cuts. However, the best meetings in my life, and I suspect yours, were the by-chance and circumstance encounters. The impromptu hallway encounters, “Hey, ya got a minute?” Those just don’t happen from home, nor do they happen over the phone. Many a successful prime minister or general has their own version of “We did not win the war from the foxhole.” As George Patton himself said, “Foxholes only slow the offensive.” 

Headlines each week are reporting some big-name institutions mandating back to “in-office” work and those that have been remoted too long are finding it difficult. For those allowed protracted flexibility, many have since recalibrated life. Now they no longer have the transportation or childcare infrastructure to revert to the historic norm of actually going to the office. Even Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter (now X) says, “Report to the office on Monday and every day thereafter or consider their resignation accepted.” Kevin Drum of Mother Jones wrote, “Companies that put up with remote work for a long time are sick and tired of it.” The reason: “Working from outside the office simply isn’t as productive as office work no matter what the workers say.” 

Those desiring the flexibility of remote, or hybrid work be warned: of 3000 managers surveyed, over 60% said their remote employees would be laid off or terminated first. There is a life reality: “That which can’t be viewed, can’t be valued.” For perspective, only 12.7 percent of employees have full-time remote work. Of course, the number would be higher, including those who are hybrid (28.2 percent). While the subject commands headlines, only 16 percent of companies are fully remote and don’t even have a physical office. Furthermore, a growing 44 percent of companies do not allow any remote work. Surveys also reflect the deteriorating psychological health of remote workers. I suppose isolation tends to do that. Research by Monster indicates that 69 percent of remote employees experience burnout over time. Just think, that’s 7 of every 10 people! Yes, people in physical offices can burn out as well, but scientific studies confirm a much higher incidence with remote workers. We wouldn’t allow a plant or warehouse structure that posed an elevated danger to our employees, so why would we allow such in an office structure? 

When one looks at the capabilities of a country or company, yes talent, funding, opportunities and growth are all factors. However, the reason so much time is spent on innovation is because it enhances productivity. If I could follow only one metric it would always be productivity. Since COVID-19 and the resulting remote work launched, we have now experienced the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year productivity deterioration. That is the longest negative streak since records began in 1948. I call that a fairly important red flag. Don’t kill the messenger, but some studies suggest that employers are getting an average of 3 1/2 hours of work in an 8-hour day from remote workers. I suspect there are studies reflecting the opposite, but even Forbes has reported that: “The golden age of remote work seems to be ending.” According to the Wall Street Journal, “even tech firms, the first industry that told employees they could work from home forever just a few years ago are getting engineers and project managers back in the office.” 

In closing, my position on this controversial subject is now on record. While I’ve quoted or referenced political leaders as well as the military, I am drawn to the 1938 wisdom of the Seven Dwarfs who proudly went to even boring work, singing “Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go.” Now in today’s world, it’s a dangerous reference. First, they worked in a diamond mine, if they were under 18, I am not advocating child labor. In addition, nowadays, the term “dwarfs” is considered offensive, and I certainly agree. However, it appears that to many people, the term “work” has become equally offensive.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller