by Kevin Eikenberry
Everyone has an opinion about where and when people should work.
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, was an early staunch advocate for Return to Office, stating at a Wall Street Journal event in 2021 that “Working from home… doesn’t work for people who want to hustle, doesn’t work for culture, doesn’t work for idea generation. We are getting blowback about coming back internally. But that’s life.” Other high profile leaders had said similar things, including Elon Musk who recently wrote an email to employees with the subject line, To be super clear, saying, “Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.”
Recently famous author Malcom Gladwell spoke on a podcast and said in part, “I know it’s a hassle to come into the office, but if you’re just sitting in your pajamas in your bedroom, is that the work life you want to live?” He questioned, “Don’t you want to feel part of something?”
There are plenty of statements on the exact opposite side of this argument, too – people equally staunch in their view that much work can (and should) be done from anywhere.
Where Should We Work?
As a co-founder of The Remote Leadership Institute, started long before the pandemic, and the co-author of The Long-Distance Leader and The Long-Distance Teammate (and the forthcoming The Long-Distance Team), you might assume I am in the second camp.
I am not.
Do I believe that great work (including collaboration, communication, cohesion, culture and more) can be done remotely? Absolutely! I have a team with a decade of experience (and many clients) that can prove it.
Do I believe that there is value in being together in physical proximity? 100%!
Do I believe that there is one right answer to the “where should people work” question? No.
What I believe
All this conversation is about 30-40% of work that could/can be done remotely – the conversation isn’t about everyone, but everyone’s view of work has changed – even if they need to be in a truck, on a production line, or serving food or patients (or 100 other things). And that change in viewpoint and the societal view of work has changed forever.
For the 30-40%, there will be a variety approaches to work that will be tried. We are best served to view this as a period of testing and piloting, not policy setting.
In the big picture, seeking a single right answer is folly and the wrong goal. The right goal is for organizations, leaders, and teams to look at the requirements of their work outputs and the needs of their teams and find approaches to try. Through that conversation, each organization/team can find things to test and try that will get great results and meet everyone’s needs too.
A flexible future
Ultimately the extremes of “We have to get back to the real world of the office”, and “Why would I ever need to be in the office?” don’t hold a singular right answer for every team and situation – and certainly don’t promote a dialogue to find that answer.
The future of work is flexibility in where, when, how, and with whom we work. Flexibility in how we get to that reality is a necessary part of the process.
We are living at a pivotal time in how we view, see, and do work. Having an opinion and preference is understandable and a part of being a human being. Planting a flag at a point without taking time to explore a broader range of options and alternatives can’t and won’t be the hallmark of the organizations that thrive through this moment that matters.
This article initially appeared on LinkedIn. You can subscribe to Remarkable Results and receive new pieces as soon as they are published.
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