How is remote work evolving?

Team & Organizational Design Talent Management & Performance Business Relationships

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CIO in Media, 2 - 10 employees

I don’t think governments are keeping up with the speed at which the world is now developing. They don’t yet understand that people can work from anywhere and that they have to rethink the way that taxation and social security systems are done. There are a lot of questions for our governments to answer, and I hope that major world events like the Russia/Ukraine conflict will shake them up a bit so that they start looking at solutions for these things. If you look at areas like software development, and consider all the new skills that are appearing in the world, it doesn't matter if you are at the beach or you are in an office. If you have a good internet connection and you can stay focused, you can do your job.

Board Member in Healthcare and Biotech, 1,001 - 5,000 employees

Before COVID made distributed working more common, there was a big debate over offshoring versus nearshoring or onshoring, etc. Those arguments have all disappeared now. The conversation is all about where you can get the best resources. It doesn't matter the location, as long as they can connect to your infrastructure and they're productive. Having said that, there has also been a challenge with team working. In a few companies where I'm involved, I've seen that the effectiveness of people working in an office is very different from those who are working remotely because asynchronous communication sometimes extends the timelines.

3 1 Reply

CIO in Media, 2 - 10 employees

That’s true. You don't have the coffee chats anymore where you can quickly discuss something in a few minutes and then get it going. That is completely gone and it's not that easy to get that back in Teams meetings because you don't open up a chat the same way. On the other hand, remote working improves a lot of people's lives because they have the feeling that they're way more effective. They open their laptop, do their work and then they're done. They don’t get the feeling that they wasted the day talking to colleagues and not being productive, so there are pros and cons. If we can address the negative impacts and keep the positive ones, then I see remote working as a good opportunity. People have saved a lot of time by not having to commute, which both increases their quality of life and helps them be more productive.

Director of Engineering in Software, 11 - 50 employees

In the early days of remote working during the pandemic, productivity was increasing, but now it’s having an adverse effect. People are not as productive, especially junior team members, and it has nothing to do with their individual value. It’s more so a result of not having any senior team members alongside them who can help them out. That's been very challenging. I typically find it helpful to explain something over a whiteboard, and when you’re screen sharing that becomes really difficult.

Chief Information Officer in Manufacturing, 10,001+ employees

I don't think remote work is evolving. I think it is becoming unproductive for many people. Not everyone is cut out to work unsupervised or have the discipline to be productive. There is also the social aspect or there lack of when working remote. It has been around for a long time and it works for some people, but not most. Too many distractions.

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VP of Information Technology in Construction, 201 - 500 employees

I agree.

CIO in Services (non-Government), 201 - 500 employees

Rapidly. It will mean many different things to many people, and Corporate culture will have to evolve to meet the needs of its employees. Each company will have a different approach; some will remain all remote all of the time, some will have to balance a hybrid approach and some will try to continue to demand employees are always at an office/location.

One thing employers are going to learn, is that some percentage of the work force will DEFINITELY choose their next employer by that employer's remote work policies, so it will become a part of the benefit package offerings of some companies.

CIO in Healthcare and Biotech, 1,001 - 5,000 employees

In my opinion, the newer generation employees are eating it up, but I also think they are also working on autonomous and in a way, work in areas that fuel this ability to be alone, a bit disconnected from the crowd. In a way, self initiated/compartmentalized work. But what's missing is the group innovation process (sum of all parts, synergy), which could work, but at the same time, social isolation and mental impacts will become an issue, in my opinion. There is something to energy gained from your peers, or other human beings... (humans being social animals and all).. and isolation from remote work may not be the best thing for people in general. With that said, all the doubt we had going into mid-2020 about remote work has been put behind us, as work productivity has not been impacted with this change in work method. However, when the pandemic is no longer an issue, how will folks respond when the ability to work remote starts to decrease? They think they can simply quit and find something else (like right now)...but can they?

Chief Technology Officer in Finance (non-banking), 1,001 - 5,000 employees

Certainly, the Pandemic forced everyone to work remotely, and we all made it for the last 2.5 years. There are pros and cons for both sides. We clearly see a trend for associates wanting to have face-to-face interactions if not daily, perhaps, once, or twice a week. People want to be purposeful while returning to the office. Also, we started discussing quarterly offsite team meetings for brainstorming and annual planning.

CIO in Healthcare and Biotech, 51 - 200 employees

Remote working is changing in several ways. More people are able to work remotely yet at the same time we are seeing more companies requiring these same staff, that have been successful for two years, to return to the office. This makes no business or economic sense and it certainly does nothing for the employees who do not want to dress up or drive to do the work they have already proven they can do from home.

The other aspect is that governments are not evolving as quickly as their staff are. There is a tendency to use taxation or insurance as an excuse in an attempt to force staff to be local or even on site, when the amount saved on each employee would more than cover the additional overhead of these factors. Corporations have been effectively running staff in multiple cross-border locations for years and some government agencies have as well. We all know our tax collectors work across the country.

In the end, companies and governments will need to adapt to the demands of the workers or they will have a hard time keeping them, and certainly won't be able to entice the best of the best.

Chief Medical Information Officer in Healthcare and Biotech, 10,001+ employees

I don't think it's evolving at the needed speed. People are generally more unproductive remotely due to distractions, and there is increasing reluctance to return back to the work space. There is no infrastructure to promote remote productivity.

IT Director in Education, 11 - 50 employees

Obviously, it's easiest to point the finger at the COVID pandemic as to the reason companies have embraced the remote worker. The reality is this has been a long time coming and COVID just pushed the issue. It's easier than ever to work remotely and provide the employee almost everything they need to be successful. I remember the days (back when I was in the corporate world) when we would have to send home VPN hardware and go to great lengths to securely establish employees at home. Teleconferencing did not exist so the only means of real time communication was the phone.

"Remote workers" really applies to all of us now. Half the time when I contact some one from a company I have no idea (or concern) where they are located. I can't tell if they are at home until I hear the dog bark and because it's so common place even that doesn't phase me. I say it applies to all of us because every service I personally is somehow cloud-connected.

I have decentralized all of the resources for employees so they can get to them from anywhere. To me that is the biggest evolution of the remote worker. Decommissioning servers and moving everything to the cloud allows for the greatest universal access and promotes a favorable remote working environment.

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