Remote Work Productivity

A Return To Office mandate is a funny thing. A trade-off of lower workforce productivity, morale, retention, engagement, and trust in exchange for...managers feeling more in control. It's more a sign of insecurity and incompetence than sound decision-making. The fact that 80% of executives who have pushed for RTO mandates have later regretted their decision only makes the point further, and yet every few months more leaders line up to pad this statistic. In case your leaders have forgotten, return to office mandates are associated with: 🔻 16% lower intent to stay among the highest-performing employees (Gartner) 🔻 10% less trust, psychological safety, and relationship quality between workers and their managers (Great Place to Work) 🔻 22% of employees from marginalized groups becoming more likely to search for new jobs (Greenhouse) 🔻 No significant change in financial performance while guaranteeing damage to employee satisfaction (Ding and Ma, 2024) The thing is, we KNOW how to do hybrid work well at this point. 🎯 Allow teams to decide on in-person expectations, and hold people accountable to it—high flexibility; high accountability. 🎯 Make in-person time unique and valuable, with brainstorming, events, and culture-building activities—not video calls all day in the office. 🎯 Value outcomes, not appearances, of productivity—reward those who get their work done regardless of where they do it. 🎯 Train inclusive managers, not micromanagers—build in them the skills and confidence to lead with trust rather than fear and insecurity. Leaders that fly in the face of all this data to insist that workers return to office "OR ELSE" communicate one thing: they are the kinds of leaders that place their own egos and comfort above their shareholders and employees alike. Faced with the very real test of how to design the hybrid workforce of the future, these leaders chose to throw a tantrum in their bid to return to the past, and their organizations will suffer for it. The leaders that will thrive in this time? Those that are willing to do the work. Those that are willing to listen to their workforce, skill up to meet new needs, and claim their rewards in the form of the best talent, higher productivity, and the highest level of worker loyalty and trust. Will that be you?

Stanford University says remote work kills productivity. The Bureau of Labor says it boosts productivity. Both are right and here’s why. Between 2019 and 2023, working from home in the US rose five-fold. Today, nearly 40% of employees work remotely at least one day a week (Stanford WFH Research Project). But the real story is not just about how many people work from home. It’s about how productivity changes depending on the model. 📌Fully remote: Research finds a 10% dip in productivity compared to fully in-office. Why? Barriers to mentoring, weaker collaboration, and the challenge of self-motivation all play a role. 📌Hybrid: Surprisingly, hybrid setups show no measurable loss in productivity. At the same time, they help companies attract and retain talent by offering flexibility without the downsides of full isolation. 📌Fully remote upside: Despite the productivity gap, firms embrace this model because of cost savings from reduced office space and the ability to tap into global talent. For some businesses, these advantages outweigh the challenges. Looking ahead, remote work will likely keep expanding since studies indicate that remote workers report a 35–40% increase in productivity, attributed to fewer distractions, more flexible work hours, and better focus. The lesson for leaders is clear: remote work is not simply about flexibility. It is about making intentional choices in how teams are structured, managed, and measured. Do you think hybrid is the long-term answer, or will fully remote eventually prove more valuable?

All is not well in fully-remote OR fully in-office work. While new Gallup research reveals that fully remote workers are more engaged than even hybrid workers (and fully on-site workers are the least engaged - a slap in the face of RTO), they aren't thriving the most - hybrid workers are. It's perhaps no surprise (to all but some CEO's and managers) that fully on-site workers are thriving the least. Interestingly, hybrid workers experience the most stress (just a hair more than fully remote), and disturbingly, fully remote workers are more likely to experience anger, sadness, and loneliness - by a decent margin. Gallup believes that physical distance can create mental distance and that work becomes "just work" without deeper connections with coworkers that can be more easily formed from spending time together in person. They also think that it's the autonomy that comes with remote work which can create stress and lead to the negative emotions mentioned above. I think these are very interesting findings, and I would like to believe that most companies would take the time to reflect on them and take appropriate action. Here's what I think companies can do: 1. Address the emotional well-being of remote workers with regular check-ins, mental health resources, and virtual social activities to combat isolation. 2. Optimize hybrid work environments by creating create clear boundaries between work and home life, help their workers manage workloads effectively, and ensure hybrid workers aren't overcompensating with longer hours. 3. Explore the advantages of remote work, seek to understand what drives the higher engagement and apply these lessons across all work arrangements. 4. Given that each work arrangement faces different challenges, develop tailored well-being strategies for each work type. A one-size-fits-all approach isn't the way to go. 5. Ensure that remote workers have career development opportunities, opportunities to develop meaningful social connections, and achieve work-life balance to close the thriving gap. 6. For companies that are (or are considering moving to) fully in-office work, reconsider hybrid and/or remote work for the clear benefits. I know - wishful thinking, especially for #6. Here's the full Gallup report: https://lnkd.in/ezQB4K5q #WellBeing #EmployeeEngagement #WorkLifeBalance #FutureOfWork #RTO

I've spoken to 4,000+ companies about remote work since March 2020 Here are the most common things I've heard 👇 1. 🏢 HQ Obliteration: Return to office has stopped, companies have cut back the real estate they could, and will cut a lot more as leases expire. The majority of workers will work remotely at least part-time and the amount will grow 2. ⭐️ Access talent: The first reason they are going remote-first is simple – it lets them hire more talented people. Rather than hiring the best person in a 30-mile radius of the office, they can hire the best person in the world for every role 3. 💰 Cut costs: The second reason is because it makes them more cost-efficient. Rather than spending $10K-$20K per worker a year on office space they can provide a worldclass remote setup for less than $1,000 a year 4. 🌐 Universal problems: doesn’t matter the size of the organization, every company is dealing with the same thing. How do we operate as a global business? Equipping teams and managing assets is a huge pain point 5. 🏭 ESG Considerations: many companies care massively about the environmental impact eradicating the office – and the commute – has. 108 million tons of Co2 less every year. Boards are looking here as well 6. ❤️ Quality of life: companies also know they don’t need workers to waste 2 hours a day commuting to sit in an office chair for 8 hour. Companies have seen reducing commute frequency leads to happier more productive workers 7. 🚀 Outcomes vs. Time: the measure of performance in the office is how much time you spend sat in your seat. The measure of performance while working remotely has to be output. Companies are moving slowly here 8. 🎡 Hybrid Conflict: what companies and workers think hybrid means are two different things. Workers think it is being able to work remotely whenever they want. Companies think it is telling workers when they must attend. Big problem 9. 🛑 Bad Software: companies continue to use software and tooling designed for in-office teams causing issues for distributed workers. New tools developed by remote-native startups are emerging but not being adopted fast enough 10. 🔐 Tech & Security: in the old world the edge from a security perspective was the office, now it's every device. This creates big security risk and vulnerabilities as devices are lost. Companies lack good solutions

The gap between AI-native operators and everyone else is widening quickly. And if you're only using ChatGPT, you're not embracing a truly AI-native way of working. Anthropic recently released Claude Cowork, which makes AI agents accessible to the 'rest of us' (aka people who aren't programmers). They *just* announced connections to Google Drive, Gmail, DocuSign & more. Cowork can plan & execute multi-step tasks like: 1. Create or edit local docs, spreadsheets or presentations 2. Organize folders to clean up space on your hard drive 3. Read Google Workspace files & emails 4. Manage your calendar In today's newsletter: AI builder Justin Norris unpacks what Claude Cowork means for you & presents a vision for AI-native knowledge work. Read the full deep dive here: https://lnkd.in/ei92-QJH Where Justin is landing today: - Uses a chat-based assistant as a personal Chief of Staff (he shares his exact prompt & routine). He checks in with the CoS at the start & end of the day. - Pair that with an execution-focused AI agent that has access to systems & sources (Claude Cowork fits in here). - Use AI assistants to absorb Tier 1 work like questions, lookups, repetitive requests, and first drafts. - With your extra time, re-focus on what AI can't do: (a) gather context, (b) decide which problems are worth solving, (c) plan projects, (d) anticipate org dynamics, & (e) communicate w/ your team. None of this is seamless. There's still copying & pasting. But you can already operate much closer to the future than it might appear.

4 ways in which we were thinking about remote work all wrong – insights from Running Remote 2024: Once a year, top thinkers on remote work come together for the Running Remote conference founded by Liam Martin (who I interviewed here.) But while the conference moniker may point to a remote-only world, the insights from this year's sessions were quite the opposite. As I couldn't attend, I asked some of the presenters and attendees, and this is how I found out that we're thinking about remote work all wrong: 1. It’s Not About Remote – It’s About Flexibility: The emphasis shifts from remote work being the primary goal to the need for flexibility in how work is done. The concept of being "distributed" rather than just "remote" is highlighted as critical, particularly for companies that operate at any significant scale. Flexibility in work arrangements is portrayed as essential for aligning, collaborating, and driving performance across diverse geographical and temporal boundaries. 2. Flexible Models Aren’t an Option – They Are a Necessity: The narrative around work models has evolved from viewing remote or hybrid models as optional to seeing them as essential. Hybrid models are particularly emphasized as a strategic necessity rather than a choice, underscoring the need for organizations to adapt to this model to retain talent and remain competitive. 3. We Can’t Forget to Solve the When and How: Beyond where people work, the discussion points to when and how they work as equally important. This includes considerations like the structuring of work hours and the design of work processes to optimize productivity and accommodate employees' personal needs, thus enhancing overall job satisfaction and output. 4. The Struggle is Real: Despite advancements in remote work strategies, the article acknowledges organizations' ongoing challenges in managing remote teams. These challenges are universal and not confined to any specific type of business or sector, indicating a need for ongoing adaptation and learning in remote work practices. For this and more, dive into edition 82 of Future Work below:

"My remote workers are probably doing laundry during work hours." I hear this concern from leaders all the time. Let me tell you a dirty little secret: I did laundry during work hours when I was an employee. And I was a better worker for it. Why? Because this concern reveals a dangerous assumption about how knowledge work actually happens. The assumption: Real work only happens when someone is sitting at a desk, staring at a screen, typing on a keyboard for 8 hours straight. The reality: That's not how the brain works. And it's definitely not how complex problem-solving happens. Let me introduce you to something neuroscience calls the focused-diffuse thinking. This is how your brain actually processes complex information and makes meaningful connections. Focused thinking is what you think work looks like: Reading reports, analyzing data, reviewing meeting notes, gathering information from your team. Your conscious attention is locked on understanding specific information. But here's what most leaders miss: Focused thinking is only half the equation. Diffuse thinking is when your brain makes connections between all those focused inputs. This is what leads to those "aha moments," pattern recognition, and breakthrough insights. This is where the real value happens in knowledge work. And diffuse thinking requires doing something that doesn't take conscious focus. Things like doing repetitive tasks like household chores (cooking & cleaning), doing something physical like walking outside without your phone, and taking breaks like napping (💡Thomas Edison famously held ball bearings while napping. When he relaxed enough to drop them, he'd wake up with better ideas). So when your remote worker is folding laundry between tasks? Their brain might be solving that complex problem you discussed in your morning meeting. The idea that work only happens in front of a keyboard is an industrial-age assumption applied to knowledge work. One that treats humans as if they are machines that can be productive and focused for 8 hours straight. This assumption is costing you innovation, problem-solving, and breakthrough thinking. If you want your teams to do their best work, you need to design systems that work with how brains actually function, not against them. This includes building times during work days for people to do focused thinking, collaboration, and dare I say it...downtime to do the laundry. This is especially critical for remote work, where the lack of commute time and office distractions actually creates more opportunities for this natural thinking cycle. But only if you stop measuring "productivity" by keyboard activity. Ready to redesign your remote work approach around how humans actually think and solve problems? DM me.

 Is there a trend the number of open jobs in the market indicate about WFH? Could we say that enterprises have had 5 significant shifts in thinking and approach towards flexibility and the need for it since 2020? 1)REMOTE IS POSSIBLE: The first shift in thinking was triggered by the novelty of large-scale remote working and the early-stage gains in efficiency and productivity. The profitability boost from lowered operating expenses saw enterprises giving up office real estate and declaring remote working as the future of the workplace. 2)FLEXIBLE BY FORCE: The second shift in thinking occurred when the hyper-hiring in 2021 triggered an unprecedented war for talent. While remote-working efficiencies and productivity had already normalized, enterprises kept remote working as a necessity to access talent for hiring. 3)BIRTH OF HYBRID: The third shift occurred when productivity & profitability dropped, high attrition rates and depleted employee engagement challenged full-time remote working. However, back-to-office mandates saw resistance from the workforce. Full-time hybrid roles gained popularity as a midway point between WFH and WFO and as a way to retain employees while they transition back to cubicles. 4)BACK TO OFFICE: The sustained headwinds in 2022 and 2023 forced enterprises to shed load through layoffs and correct the expensive talent buying done during the buoyancy. Full-time remote working options were dropped as an inefficient model, while hybrid stayed in play through 2023 and early 2024. 5)HYBRID OF REMOTE & WFO?: The period since the 2nd half of 2024 has been an inconsistent mix of responses to the flexible working formats. Enterprises and industries are altering their mix of full-time remote, hybrid and work-from-office openings. Continuing revenue and margin pressures in specific cohorts like IT products and IT services are driving thinking towards bringing back a more prominent presence of flexible working models. Meanwhile, other cohorts like startups, consulting services and traditional sectors continue their preference for WFO. Early indicators point towards the WFO and Flexible working openings to settle at an overall 80:20 mix for 2025, with a combination of sectors favouring flexible engagements and those who swear by WFO. A topic that refuses to bow down, and we haven't heard the last of it yet!

The classic office use case is slowly dying. The traditional notion of the office as merely a place for routine tasks and clocking in hours is even 'deader'. In its place, a new role is emerging—an experience that redefines the workplace as a dynamic, engaging environment where every visit is purposeful and enriching. Hybrid work models are becoming the norm, blending remote and in-person collaboration. This shift demands a reimagining of workplace experiences to make every office visit meaningful and worth the commute. Employees now seek more than just a desk; they desire spaces that inspire, engage, and foster a sense of community. In response, many companies are attempting to right-size their offices—optimizing space to reflect new work patterns and reducing underutilized areas. This strategic downsizing allows organizations to reinvest in better workplace experiences, creating environments that attract employees back to the office by offering unique benefits not found at home. Corporate real estate is being disrupted by this evolution, moving beyond simply providing physical spaces to crafting vibrant, people-focused environments. The office is transforming into a hub of collaboration, innovation, and culture-building—offering experiences that fully remote work cannot replicate. This flight to experience is about creating workplaces that employees are excited to be a part of...sometimes. To make hybrid work truly work, companies must integrate flexible spaces, unparalleled services, and sustainable practices. Hospitality-led solutions—such as gourmet food options featuring locally sourced ingredients, artisanal coffee experiences, and orgnizational/community engagement events — elevate the workplace. Seamless meeting management ensures that every gathering is impactful, with state-of-the-art audio-visual support, tailored catering, and efficient logistics. By recognizing that the traditional office model is fading and embracing the flight to experience, organizations can enhance employee satisfaction, attract top talent, and drive success in an ever-evolving work landscape. Right-sizing offices and reinvesting in superior workplace experiences are key strategies in this transformation. The future office is not just a place to work; it's a place to connect, collaborate, and create—making hybrid work truly effective and every office visit valuable. #FutureOfWork

I have made and saved a lot of money using remote teams across all of my companies.  Here’s how you do it: Almost every business could use at least some remote talent. It’s a great way to access a broader talent pool than your local area. You can also lower overhead costs — less office space, lower bills, and even hire talent from other countries. So how do you get the most out of a team that you don’t see face to face? Step 1: Define your objectives and needs Nail down your biggest reason for building a remote team. Broaden your hiring pool? More flexibility? Lower costs? Your main goal guides your future decisions. Then, assess which of your positions are suitable for remote or hybrid work. — Step 2: Develop a remote work policy A solid policy sets the tone and expectations for your team. Try to answer all questions ahead of time. Clarify Scope and Purpose: •  Who is eligible to work remotely? • For hybrid, how many days? • Is there a distance requirement? Set Communication Standards: • When should people be online and available? • What communication tools should they use? Security Protocols: Password manager?  VPN? Are you providing work equipment or expecting BYOD? — Step 3: Update your hiring process Build remote-specific job descriptions: Highlight skills like self-discipline and communication. Use diverse recruitment channels: Remote-specific job boards and communities. Tailor interviews for remote readiness: Include video calls and assess their home office setup. — Step 4: Find the right tools & technology Equip your team with tools that support collaboration and productivity. You’ll probably need: • An async communication hub (like Slack) • A video call platform (Google Meet) • A project management tool (Asana or Trello) • Hardware/software support Provide equipment or offer a stipend. — Step 5: Establish clear communication guidelines Effective communication is the backbone of remote work. Do you need people to: • Set online statuses? • Post daily updates? • Follow a response time rule? • When do you need people available for video calls? Make sure to set regular meetings and check-ins. Weekly stand-ups and monthly all-hands help keep everyone aligned. — Step 6: Build a strong team culture Strong remote teams thrive on culture and connection. Start with thorough virtual onboarding. Set up meet and greets and mentoring sessions. Add regular team activities: • Virtual coffee breaks • Game time • Casual Slack channels Celebrate everything: • Individual and team wins • Holidays • Company milestones — Step 7: Keep tabs on performance Address concerns head-on with clear goals and regular feedback. Set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Schedule quarterly reviews. Focus on outcomes — not hours worked. — If you’re interested in remote staff for your teams. Comment below or message me and I’ll get you connected.