Future of work: No going back, now we know what flexibility looks like

Two years ago, only a fraction of the West’s workers knew what it was like to work from home. Not now.

Alanah Mitchell, associate professor, Drake University, Iowa.

Two years ago, only a fraction of the West’s workers knew what it was like to work from home.

Everyone who had ever taken a pay cheque had a good idea of what it meant to work from an office or other designated workplace, but few had experienced remote work with flexible hours in their own kitchens or dining rooms.

Before Covid, the universal model of post-industrial work arrangements was being questioned by some, with a number of companies and individuals making a real effort to mix it up and experiment with new ways of managing work.

But by and large, owners and managers didn’t have to think about how their employees worked – the workplace rolled on with many assumptions about the way space was organised and the processes followed by companies.

But now, as US researcher Alanah Mitchell says, “love it or hate it, everyone has had the experience of working remotely, everyone knows what it is like”. That means bosses and workers need to be far more “intentional” about how they operate in future, she says.

Mitchell is associate professor of Information Systems at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and has been looking at remote work and virtual collaboration for more than a decade.

The pandemic is a live experiment for her as she watches companies address the new challenges.

Mitchell uses the word “intentional” often, signalling that it’s not possible for employers or employees to think the new models will run themselves. Instead, managers must be intentional about developing a culture that works in the hybrid model she believes will dominate our future. Managers need to address issues such as the way teams can subdivide into those who never go to the office and those who always work in the office.

“You want to make sure that you don’t have groups emerging or breaking down,” she says. “Measurement of productivity is also important … you can’t base it on the behaviour in an office.

“Be intentional with your plan, you have to be intentional. You have to figure it out.

“I have seen some companies go all the way back to the office and some not at all. The rapid shift back has not been as well received as the rapid push home. Having seen what it is like (to be home) the push to go back is not so well received and we are seeing the Great Resignation and re-evaluation.”

Mitchell says hybrid is the most likely model in the future because everyone has seen the benefits in personal productivity and flexibility, although there is “something to be said for face-to-face”.

Even those employees who opt to go back to the office, back to “normal work”, have a better understanding of what it’s like to work remotely and, for example, be the person who is not in the room during a meeting.

Remote workers also need to be “intentional and make sure you are finding the mentors and the connections and getting answers to your questions and knowing how to raise a red flag if you need help”.

As well, you need to keep an eye on your productivity and ensure you are not distracted, she says. People report they are more productive at home, and there had been a great digitisation of processes: pre-Covid people thought they had to be in the office to do certain tasks and then they suddenly realised they did not have to be physically present. But the positives of being able to do more focused work at home have to be weighed against the loss of the “spontaneous problem-solving” in the office, she warns.

Young people are often represented as wanting flexible work, but Mitchell has found they often yearn for the physical office, with access to mentors and networks. Older people adapted more easily to remote work during the pandemic because they have established networks and connections, she says.

But she points out remote work doesn’t suit everyone: some people love the commute to the office as an opportunity to decompress and zone out, while others are keen to never commute again.

Mitchell believes companies must focus on performance metrics as hybrid becomes established and also address the “fault lines” that can emerge when employees are split between home and office.

“You don’t want people feeling that they have to be in the office to be in the know, that you have to be there to have the latest update,” she says.

The answer is better communication from bosses and deliberate planning around when and where meetings are held.

She says business long ago identified different ways of measuring productivity – for example, by focusing on completion of tasks rather that time at the desk – but the pandemic is forcing companies to put these practices into place.