Technology and connectivity, in most parts of the world, have advanced so quickly and so much that truly, quite a fair amount of work can be delivered from anywhere. Of course, this applies more to certain segments of the economy. Large parts of knowledge and creative work can be done remotely. 2020 has proved that individuals, teams, and entire organizations can actually work and function pretty well remotely. Moving forward, we’re looking at hybrid work being the new normal of work in the future. Brandt International is a case study in itself. Let us explore what we did.
COVID-19 is the main driver for WfA
In late 2019, when the first signs of COVID started in Wuhan, Brandt International had quickly assembled a Pandemic Response Team drawn from individuals in the senior leadership team. The team started meeting more regularly in January 2020. The first decision we made was that anyone could work from anywhere. Employees were empowered and enabled to do so with immediate effect. All this happened in late January 2020. The first lock-down in Malaysia happened on March 18, 2020. Brandt grew as an organization with record growth and revenue — all while working remotely. So, the question now is “does this mean WfA is the future?”
Work from Home (WfH) or Work from Anywhere (WfA)
Way before 2020, there was a movement brewing within knowledge work organizations. Personal technology and digital connectivity had advanced so far and so fast that people had begun to ask, “Do we really need to be together, in an office, to do our work?” This question never got a solid, concrete answer that would satisfy everyone. The pandemic gave us the real answer both employees and employers wanted.
In the past year and a half, we learned that many of us don’t in fact need to be seated with colleagues in an office together to actually do our jobs. Individuals, teams, entire workforces, can perform well while being entirely distributed—and they have. Brandt International has proven that with even recruitment, onboarding, and training entire teams during the lockdown. The question now most of us are asking now and post-pandemic is: Are all-remote or majority-remote organizations the future of knowledge work? Is work from anywhere (WFA) here to stay?
Work from Anywhere is the New Normal
My professional opinion is yes because it definitely gives notable benefits to both organizations and their staff. We went from closed plan offices to open-plan offices and I do think that the era of herding people into desks or cubicles is over. I believe for companies today, you can hire talent globally without relocating them to your location. Can you imaging also the amount of real-estate savings from a reduced office footprint? Of course, certain roles and jobs may require working in an office and certain people do favor working in an office for many reasons. The office isn’t going away but WfA isn’t going away either.
I believe a hybrid working model is how the future workforce and workspace will look like. Offices will have fewer seats but more collaborative spaces for meetings, discussions, and teamwork. Teams will be fluid, going in and out of the office as and when needed. The hybrid working model balances collaboration and productivity with the flexibility of remote working.
Challenges are there
Major challenges for the WfA and WfH crowd will be primarily on communications. Team productivity in areas of collaboration, mentoring, and idea generation is next. Security, data security is top of mind as well. I will share some insights and benefits below for you to consider if you or your organization is looking at WfA as part of the work environment.
Research has shown Performance Benefits
A 2015 study by Nicholas Bloom illustrated that those employees that opted into WfH policies, had a 13% increase in productivity. Productivity actually continued to increase after the initial study period which shows that the productivity growth wasn’t an anomaly.
Recently, more and more companies have allowed more employees to work from home. These same companies that offer WfH or WfA options still keep workings at one or more offices. Covid-19 probably forced the largest WfH experiment globally. It has forced many organizations to strategically move toward a greater remote workforce. Many companies ran with fewer than 50% of employees colocated in physical offices. For Brandt, we’ve actually moved closer to 80% to 90% remote or ready to move remotely within 24-hours.
That said, even before the crisis, a few companies had taken had already started reducing or removing office space. GitHub is one example that has moved to remote work. What works for GitHub however, might not work for all companies. Let’s look at some individual and corporate benefits from this WfH or WfA.
Individual Benefits
Flexibility is probably the biggest benefit. One of my friends told me that her WfA arrangement with a large pharmaceutical helps her balance her career with family. Her husband is frequently posted around the globe requiring her to relocate. For those of us more grounded and less mobile, the ability to balance work and life demands also is a plus point. Reducing long commutes can bode better overall wellbeing and reduce stress. For employees with families, WfH and WfA can provide a better balance by removing the commute and travel time. Juggling time for small chores or errands may be easier and employees may not require taking the day off for an hour to renew a passport for example which can result in better productivity. Managing ourselves is of course key and we have written on this before. Making the most of a WFH situation – Brandt International
For organizations
The easy benefit is the most obvious. The financial bottom line. If you need fewer people in the office, means less office space required. For many companies, real estate costs are not trivial. For example, an organization of 150 employees would probably need a floor with around 8,000 square feet or 750 square meters. With WfA, most organizations report using only around 50-60% of the existing space. So, conservatively, we are looking at a 1/3 reduction in space. There will be some rework required though, to convert work desks to more collaborative spaces such as discussion rooms and huddle areas. Another benefit would be similar to taking time off by employees for minor errands would be reduced. That said, processes need to be in place to ensure proper accountability. Of course, organizations can also save on staff relocation or housing as well.
For society
Something quite frequently overlooked is the societal benefits of WfA. Small towns usually face a drain of the younger demographic migrating to larger cities for employment. Cities also face overcrowding and rising living costs. With more organizations providing a WfA option, employees could continue to live where they are. This has the added benefit of providing employers with a greater choice of talent as well since they longer require the employee to relocate.
The environment would benefit from the reduced emissions from vehicles and traffic. This is partially offset by greater home electrical consumption but in the future, this can be handled by solar or other renewables. The pandemic has shown that global pollution levels did drop although not all of it is caused by employees working from home. The reduction in air travel due to closed borders is also a big factor.
Productivity concerns and Collaborative working
The biggest concern for WfH and WfA is employee productivity. This is magnified when you have a more global workforce across several time zones. Zoom, Skype, or Teams require a new form of working as well as communications. Many of these hurdles are also due to cultural norms in any organization. Meetings, phone calls, and emails have dictated the work environment for the past 30 years. This changed dramatically in the last decade. Mobile technology growth is the major driving force today. Cloud-based collaborative tools like Trello, Miro, or Slack are also changing the way people work and communicate. Add in technology like WhatsApp, WeChat, or any IM client and it disrupts the way people used work before.
Adaptation needs to occur. Communication and Leadership will need to change too. Just like the way the telegraph, telephone, fax machine, or emails have changed the way we work and communicate. I do have confidence that eventually we would adapt. You can look up this article for The 3 skills guaranteed to remain relevant in a post-pandemic workforce – Brandt International
So, is WfA right for your Organization?
Not all companies will be able to adopt WfA or WfH. In fact, there are groups within every organization that will probably be working from the office. Start-ups and technology-focused organizations are possibly the best suited. What we foresee though, is that the hybrid work environment will be the new normal. Eventually, studies and results will show that a hybrid or even majority-remote environment can actually improve company success, profitability and valuation.
How is your organization facing this change? Here at Brandt, leadership is important and the senior leadership has encouraged both synchronous and asynchronous working environment and communication but we’re still investing in improving remote leadership, mentoring, and engagement. We are also continually investing in technology, especially security, compliance, and tools to ensure that we’re ready and able to perform at all levels.
Author’s disclosure: I’ve been operating in a Work-from-Anywhere (Work-from-Home) WfA or WfH mode since 2012 actually so this WfH pandemic hasn’t changed much for me but I see it as a growing trend that is going mainstream post-pandemic.
