Three Reasons Remote Work Won’t Last - Medium.com

[maherou]

Link to article: https://link.medium.com/Lmb8N03ZU8

While the title of this article is overly dramatic, it brings out some important challenges and dynamics of a hybrid in-office/out-of-office workplace.

Key themes discussed:

• Being “on the bridge”: This concept means that a person responsible for one task (providing data to a group, making a decision as a manager) wants to also be involved in actions that result from what is provided (decisions made from the data, executing the management decision). Being on the bridge is made more difficult if the person who wants to be on the bridge is remote to an in-office team.
• Watercooler talk: As more people are in office, watercooler talk happens increasingly in person and never makes it to Slack or similar online forums. This is not a new idea, but said well in the article.
• Optics: As more people are in office, those who are not can be seen as less loyal.

These issues can be addressed by purposeful team leveling, such as Zoom stand ups daily, where everyone participates remotely.

[amoralesg001]

I think this article takes a good look at what challenges need to be noticed in order to keep remote work in the long-run. As covid-19 has made almost all workers work remote, it makes it easier to see the benefits remote work has through a short term-lens -- such as productivity. But, this article shows the reality of what a lot of companies are thinking of post-pandemic -- hybrid work. I am curious to see more of the benefits and challenges hybrid work will face.

In relation to the long-term use of remote work, I found this article that looks at ways companies can have long-term remote work for their employees. It highlights that rules, norms and key metrics need to be evaluated to enhance culture and values in remote work. I also like how they use an iterative process in order to find what fits best for each company. That iterative process is to explore, envision, and test.