To those who do not support knowledge workers working from home

For those that have grown up with computer technology as an integrated part of growing up, I'm like my grandfathers were to my understanding of cars and planes - they witnessed the first cars and planes. Flying seemed like the impossible and both technologies enabled a new way of moving people, goods, and information. And like them, I have migrated with technology and enjoy it like a wine I can sip at (and occasionally swim in), where to younger individuals, it may seem more like water, ubiquitous and seamless. I work a bit to keep up with it and use it effectively.

 

There are plenty of folks in my age range (and older) who don't and that's fine too. There are folks that shake their heads at people who use their phones (especially) a lot - that's a natural reaction for some. One might realize, you're the same person who shook their head at kids driving more than 20 miles an hour (when the car was new) or who wouldn't get on an airplane. That's not a dig - it's human nature. At some point, as technology exponentially grows in capability, and some decide to step off the moving sidewalk.

 

And we must step off sometimes. Technology is only useful to you to the point you are willing to adapt, learn and use it. It has limits at any given time. Paper and pencil are still useful.  I still like to see people (when possible) - I want to have lunch with friends. I like a close personal conversation over coffee or drinks.

 

This last year has seen a shift in the paradigm of knowledge work - accelerated by a health based need to work remotely from each other, we have come to a disruptive precipice. 

 

Older industry leaders come out of the pandemic still insisting on people coming into an office daily, even though knowledge workers have shown that it has specific and limited usefulness. These leaders have stepped off. 

 

It's OK - but they need to realize they're setting themselves up for failure in this new world with mandates that don't relate to the facts. Yes, business is paramilitary, and we do what our leaders ask in this sort of thing. But this is not an issue that will go away, now a ripple. It's a tsunami.  This is disruptive technology that has changed the way we can work, and it will replace the paradigm of the previous, just like newer medical procedure supplants the old, or your flip phone was replaced by your iPhone.

 

Why? Removing the commute, removing the suit are certainly part of it. It changes so that life is a bit more like the rural experience we once had in all of this country, where we can spend more time with our loved ones, if even passing them while grabbing coffee. We can pet our dog or cat while we read. We can eat food that we choose in a more normal way. When we do take a break, it can be with the things we have personally chosen to surround ourselves with.

 

And when we do go into the office, it is purposeful, with an agenda. Which allows us to make productive use of that time - a planned activity. Even when we are in the office daily now-a-days we are at desks, phone conferencing with the people that sit next to us - because conference space is at a premium, because half the team is in Europe, India, South America, Africa, Australia, China (and so on). So, the actual office experience is fairly virtual already. And in my personal situation, I’d point out, I was working from home in the 1990's, with a phone, a modem, and a fax/printer. We've had the virtual experience a very long time and it has improved to the point where it's not only workable, but also in many cases, preferable.

 

As an Executive or a Manager, if you make a personal choice to step off, realize the people who are traveling on that moving platform with you may not. And in business that means realizing your competition is already moving on and the people you value may choose to partner with those who continue to travel rather than step off themselves.

 

In plain words; Some employees are going to leave, to facilitate working in this new, now proven, way. That doesn't mean they won't find value in occasionally gathering for specific purpose. But it does mean your insistence that they physically come into an office daily will drive them to employment elsewhere, which not only doesn't require it, but supports the paradigm shift. 

 

You can also say you expect attrition to some extent, but remember, organizational ability and knowledge resides in employees, to a much larger degree than it resides in systems or on paper. The collective capability of your organization is not based in where your people are but how they interact. 

 

And while we thought physical proximity was important (and at times, still can be), it is not the dictating factor it once was. People have learned how to work a different way. It was happening before the pandemic (in my multinational company I spend a lot of time on the phone with folks from India, Europe, and other parts of the globe - and have for years). 

 

Also realize that productivity is not measured in attendance. It's not measure in keyboard time, it's not measured in lines of code. It is measured by a job being successfully done - one that's well defined, but flexible in how it’s done. When you start measuring people by looking to see if they are in their seats - or by keystrokes, you have lost the point and you will lose the people.  

 

Knowledge work happens while employees are talking to colleagues, working with vendors, but also when chopping carrots, while talking to others, while sitting and thinking. Certainly it also requires focused time to do specific activities like document, persuade, design and test - but thinking goes wherever our heads go. And regardless of the technology, this is where knowledge-based productivity has always lived.

 

Epiphanies don't just happen in a lab. They happen in dreams, in conversations, in turning away from the subject matter to allow the sub-conscious a chance to do its thing and surface the good idea.

 

Rather than turn away from the idea, learn how to leverage it. Help employees learn when in-person interaction is meaningful. Help managers learn how to stay connected. Learn to trust your employees - after all, you are trusting them every day to run your business. The motto "trust and Verify" is code for mistrust. "Trust, evaluate, learn and coach" is more appropriate - and not a rabbit hole to dive into in the future - but for now, an understanding that regardless of your predisposition, the world is continuing to move. If you choose to step of for control or whatever reason, that will not stop the disruption. It will only stop your business and those employees that choose to stay from getting the benefits. 

 

One last thought. I say this a good amount: Reality overrules any fantasy one might have. Just because you choose to oversimplify, try to stretch goal, or push your way around it, reality will win in the end.