"A growing number of corporate executives want to put an end to the work-from-home revolution. But workers have gotten used to the flexibility, and they have the leverage to demand it." - Axios, June 5, 2022.
WFH - SO MUCH IS CHANGING
If a downturn starts to gain traction, that leverage can go poof, of course.
In tech, which lost 16,000 jobs in May, Elon Musk went on record requiring RTO for at least 40 hours a week. There was also a warning to managers to be a more in-person visible presence. Other tech businesses could piggyback on that kind of requirement. In fact, with so many tech corporations such as Meta so troubled, the brass could panic and pull everyone back to the office. That could establish the model also in non-tech.
NEGATIVE IMPACTS ON PRODUCTIVITY
Meanwhile, what's being cited in research sucks the euphoria out of WFH.
For example, the University of Chicago Becker Friedman Institute research headed by Michael Gibbs found that remote workers put in more hours but were less productive. Yes, employers can lure employees to RTO by explaining to them they will be spending fewer hours a week on tasks than if they had been operating remote.
In the legal sector, Quinn Emanuel made news by developing a permanent WFH policy. Most law firm have hybrid policies.
LONG LEGACY OF IMPORTANCE OF FACE TIME
However, it has always been a not-well-kept-secret that junior lawyers who wanted to get ahead (and maybe even just hold onto their jobs) would make it their business to do lots of face time. Law firms made it known in the height of the pandemic when offices were officially closed that that employees were still welcome to come to the office if they preferred to operate in-person.
If associates become jittery about the possibility of recession hitting their particular firm they essentially could cancel out hybrid, showing up in-person not only five days a week but weekends too.
The importance of in-person face time has a long tradition.
We boomers in the Fortune 100 had it hammered by both career experts (they weren't called coaches back then) and unofficial mentors within our organiztion to do up face time big. That included swinging by the office on Saturdays.
You bet, that generated plenty of jokes about being visible. But we all did it. It would have been career suicide not to. If there had been a threat of a Reduction-in-Force we got it to put in even more face time but keep our heads down.
AFTER-HOURS SOCIAL MUSTS
Equally critical was a presence at all those after-official-hours social events. A Fox producer I had assisted with communications wound up on medical leave. He contended those required activities had been the tipping point. He loved the real work which consumed long hours. What did him in were the non-stop scheduled galas after his exhausting day.
Exposes ranging from "Untouchable" about Harvery Weinsten to "Dropout" about Elizabeth Holmes document the critical need for after-hours in-person networking. In the former, commonplace in the film industry in New York City was a party every evening. You had to figure out how to get invitations to them.
Those are the realities.
TRADEOFFS FROM SETTING UP IN THE KITCHEN AT HOME
I was well aware that when I opted to set up my communications boutique in my kitchen (that's where we do it in the New York Metro area versus in the garage in Silicon Valley) that I was trading off much. But, to me who had been worn out by the social demands of the office, it has been worth it. Over the years I have turned down offers for full-time, in-office jobs.
EDGE OF IN-PERSON MENTORING
Meanwhile, the ambitious in law should have read between the lines in a seminal article in The Wall Street Journal back in August 2021. That was about how WFH during the pandemic was upending law firm culture.
Yes, one message in the article was that traditional whatevers were being blown up.
Another, though, came from a reflection by Brad Karp. Chairman of Paul Weiss he noted this: As a junior lawyer he gained the learning edge by sitting in-person in real time next to partners doing conference calls with clients. They would make explicit to him why they handled X or Y in that manner.
AMBITION, STILL IN THE CLOSET
There is also, the elephant in the room - to use that cliche. So much of the media coverage and informal jaw-jawing about remote leaves out the still-verboten subject of ambition. Like power, so much of that is still in the closet.
But anyone who is savvy about how careers operate understands the overlay of ambition on how they make professional decisions. Way back in 2011, as the US economy was recovering from The Great Recession, I published on the AOL platform what turned out to be a high-profile article on ambition. However, apparently that didn't shake loose open discussions about ambition. Instead the euphemisms ranging from passion to purpose dominate professional narratives. The storyline goes that we are willing to drop our weekend plans and do an emergency assignment because of our passion about such-and-such a matter.
MANAGEMENT/LABOR CONTRACT IN FLUX
So, here we are on remote. Likely it will be re-thought. No, it won't disappear. But the consequences of WFH would surface as a major issue for both employers and employees. Again, the management-labor contract is being renegotiated. Professionals will be more aware of the tradeoffs they are making if they choose WFH.
Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com. She helps businesses conjure up magic in their storytelling. One client said, "She makes shipping containers ‘sexy.’"