Back to the office: a calculated approach
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic a growing number of firms were ditching their offices.
Whether it was shifting to co-working spaces, offering greater flexibility to workers, or going fully remote, the recent boom in ‘return to office’ pieces are missing some important parts of the story.
Firstly, the ‘Great Return’ is a bit of a myth.
Secondly, what’s the cost?
CFOs, who have spent the past two years frantically streamlining expenses and ensuring a secure cash flow, need to seriously consider the numbers behind an office.
The economy was already changing
Everyone has read enough about how the pandemic has changed the world of work, we know we’ve certainly written on it quite extensively.
Remote working was becoming, albeit slowly, more normal. This is due to changes in the nature of work.
Freelancers and contractors used to be limited to elite professionals, consultants, and tradespeople. However, because technology permits it, more and more young people are working what have been seen as traditionally ‘office-based’ jobs, as freelancers.
Being a freelancer, and having the option of working in a space with other young freelancers led to the insane boom (we’ll ignore the bust) of companies like WeWork.
Why go to an office to work with a bunch of people who don’t do the same job as you but happen to work for the same company, when you could go and essentially choose who you surround yourself with?
In the US, accurate statistics are harder to come by, but there was an increase of around 3% in the percentage of workers operating remotely from 2009 to 2019. A small number, but it was creeping up towards the end of the 2010s.
The UK saw an even larger shift towards remote work, with the number going from 884,000 to over 1.5 million people doing their main job from home over the same period.
Once again we see the pandemic accelerating a pre-existing trend, rather than simply causing novel shifts in the world of work.
This is important because C-suite executives who are getting ready to get the gang back together in the office might be missing the point.
Can doesn’t mean should
That’s right, it’s time for Jeff Goldblum.
Whether or not we can go into the office, doesn’t mean we should. For reasons we’ve outlined in our piece on remote leadership, there isn’t the need nor desire for a return to the office en masse.
Associate Professor at Northeastern University, Chrisoph Riedl, hammers home the point that fears about productivity of remote workers are misguided.
“We can directly compare the performance of teams that work remotely versus teams that work face to face, and we generally find no difference with regard to team performance.”
We could go on and on about why forcing employees to go back to the office is unwise, but we’ll try and summarize it succinctly; don’t do it.
We’ve covered reasons ranging from productivity and staff happiness, but there’s another aspect to factor in that has largely gone under the radar.
Offices cost
CFO Dive reported that there has been a decline in office rent meaning CFOs can save some money facilitating a return to the office, by renting somewhere cheaper.
But maintaining an office is still a huge cost to a business. Rent, equipment, all the other overheads add up to a large amount that has just been proven as unnecessary.
A smarter investment would be to help employees through the process of setting up a home office by either completely funding or offsetting their costs.
If, and this remains an if, a large in-person meeting is required, then use some of the saved budget to rent somewhere a bit nicer and make a day of it!
Multinational firm Automattic, which employs over 900 people, flew out a large number of the company to Thailand (pre-pandemic) for a meetup.
Rather than making employees begrudgingly commute everyday, or even on a rotating schedule, give them something to look forward to.
The best business leaders in the world right now are the ones that are listening to their employees, rather than unfounded concerns about returning to an office from some of the C-suite.
Employees don’t want it, businesses don’t need to do it, and the alternatives are realistic and desirable.
Don’t just make the decision to go back to an office because it seems like an inevitability, but actively listen to your employees and if they want it, do it. If they don’t, at a time where finding and retaining talent is more vital than ever, then don’t force them to.
