-01.png)
We are all observing the conversations and company policy changes and preferences about where we are working now, after the sudden work location changes forced through due to Covid isolation (2020-22)...they were crazy different times!
And what's working best for how we are working.
...you know what I mean!!!
The options are basicially:
Work from home/other
Working from the office
Or a hybrid mix of both
But does it depend on the type of task and the type of company?
For anyone that drives around Sydney (or any capital city), it's obvious that Tuesday has become the new Monday - the traffic at the start and end of the weeks is noticeably quieter..
And it's absolutely obvious how much time people spend travelling to and from work. It really does add up...
2 hours per day x 5 days a week = 10 hours
Thats essentially 1 full day per week just commuting...it's pretty crazy when you think about it!
Research Study Into The Type of task vs Location of Work
There is a new study on this current topic, researching the benefits of working from home vs the office based on individual vs team tasks.
Plus it's angled more towards the original/creative thinking task type vs more straight forward repetitive type of tasks. It doesn't have all the answers, but it's interesting reading.
The full research study is titled, "Working in the office or working from home: Where are employees most creative?" by Marc Rücker, Oscar Pakos, Sophia Windschiegl, Kai-Ingo Voigt
Here's an excerpt of the main points from the article - it's interesting reading on the pro's and con's of working from home vs the office, depending on the type of task.
As we know the COVID-19 pandemic led to major transformations in the world of work that have changed the parameters of how and where we work.
All those companies that said they would 'never ever' let their staff work from home had it forced on them - for many it was a wild experiement they had to roll with.
Some companies already had some form of 'work flexibility' underway, so it just accelerated what they had already started.
Creativity is crucial for innovation and market success (Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, & Staw, 2005).
In the organizational context, most creative work occurs at the individual or team level (e.g. Woodman, Sawyer, & Griffin, 1993). Accordingly, companies strive to provide the right environment for individual employees and teams to foster creative work.
According to the Global Workplace Survey Comparison by the Gensler Research Institute (2023), 73% of employees working in offices already have the possibility of choosing where they want to work in their office environment.
In recent years, working outside the office has become increasingly possible for many knowledge workers worldwide (Allen, Golden, & Shockley, 2015).
In particular, the pandemic has significantly accelerated the trend towards working from home. While employees initially had to adjust to this new situation, the home has now become an established and popular place of work (Pakos et al., 2021).
This is due to the fact that working from home offers many benefits.
+
For example, employees who have a dedicated workspace at home experience fewer interruptions and work with greater concentration (Awada, Lucas, Becerik-Gerber, & Roll, 2021; Bailey & Kurland, 2002).
-
However, working from home can be more distractive for some employees than working in the office, particularly when they have an inadequate office setup at home (Bergefurt et al., 2022) or suffer from screen fatigue due to the large number of virtual meetings (Toniolo-Barrios & Pitt, 2021).
This is an overview of the hypotheses and depicts our conceptual model
In September 2020, we conducted an online within-participant experimental study in collaboration with a large company active in the energy sector in Germany. We asked 900 knowledge work employees, who were working both in an activity-based workspace and from home to participate in our study. During the survey period, there was no lockdown, and employees were allowed to choose where to work from. In total, we received 191 completed questionnaires (30.9% female, Mage = 38.7 years, SD = 10.5 years). Importantly, we used a representative sample, such that participating employees did not differ from nonparticipating employees in terms of age, gender and working experience (all p-values >.4).
We used different descriptions to manipulate the scenarios. In the individual creative task condition, we encouraged the participants to ‘imagine that they need to individually create new ideas for a project (individual creative task).
Our findings reveal that working from home enhances psychological freedom, resulting in increased individual creativity.
By allowing employees to work in a comfortable and personalized environment and to have control over their work, organizations can promote increased engagement, motivation and creativity among employees.
Conversely, psychological safety has been found to be crucial for teamwork and for promoting innovation and creativity.
Our study found that the office environment provides greater psychological safety, resulting in higher levels of team creativity.
This underscores the importance of organizations creating a work environment that encourages open communication, collaboration and constructive feedback to foster a sense of psychological safety.
These results also have important practical implications.
First, managers looking to balance their employees' work between home offices and regular offices can use our study as a set of guidelines.
Companies can measure how much time their employees spend on creative individual tasks and on creative team tasks and adjust their existing home and office times according to our findings.
Very interesting - but also not surprising findings that will continue to be debated.
OUR THEORY / OBSERVATIONS
We see and hear about a lot of the above study working with business leaders, but also working closely with the team throughout the org chart.
There are a few key standout factors that quickly decide (dictate?) on the WFH vs Office direction.
It depends on the company leadership style / culture / financial strength
What we see from a practical perspective - looking across a wide selection of industry sectors, company sizes, and management styles is thing like this....
1. It all depends on what the boss wants / does / prefers.
Ultimately someone needs to make a decision and of course the leader needs to make it based on wants right for their business, their team....and again, it won't always be said 'what they prefer'.
2. Whether more traditional vs progressive (or like to be seen to be progressive).
This is an interesting one, as a more traditional company will want everyone in the office (not always), and a company that it trying to become more progressive will be internally marketing they are 'open to whatever', even if deep down they probably aren't. And a real progressive company...well, they were already doing it (WFH).
And of course, it depends on what product or service you make and sell. A full-on manufacturing operation, well they are obviously at work - not all the role/tasks, but a lot of them.
3. It depends on the amount of 'skin in the game' / responsibility / ownership level.
This one stands out quite clearly in that if you (your role) is very fundamental to the companies success then you personally can work anywhere - because you live and breathe it 24/7 anyway. The main reason a manager is in the office at all is 'really for your team' or 'for meetings'. Your own real core thinking work is actually done more subconsciously in the weekend, in the morning before work or after dinner at night.
And finally, this one won't always be said - but lets be honest - its an absolute factor...
4. How much money is being made or pouring in, based on the business model.
A company making a ton of money is less likely to care where anyone works, as they can afford the extra fat. It's true and we see it and hear it. You can be more flexible when things are humming along nicely and easily.
IN SUMMARY
So there you have it, some perspective on the 'where to work' topic.
Some researched with a solid sample size (n=900) and some more informal observations.
What To Do? - Our Comments & Recommendations
People tend to over-state how much they love their work...let's be honest, you're ultimately paid to love it, otherwise most people would be lying on a beach or travelling the world 5 star.
Managers tend to over-state how important everything at work is. It's all part of the rev-up to get everyone pumped and focused on getting things done.
People have other lives - being tuned in to non-work things for people has always been important. So being able to show some flexibility to account for non-work things does mean a lot to people.
Being able to run some life errands - e.g. get the car serviced, pay some bills, drop / pick up the kids etc - is a reality. People need some time here and there to breathe and keep everything together.
I remember some of my team having children and I was 110% supportive for them to continue working any part-time hours, at any time of day...as we needed them and they were rockstars! It was the ultimate win-win and pretty rare at the time - today it's more common and should be.
And I remember having my kids which was incredibly lifechanging, then thinking, it's great to be at home and doing some work but....I need to get back to work to relax!!! haha, or at least make a coffee or go to the toilet in peace!!! I am sure many mums/parents think the same some days.
People are people - most people need structure/timeline/deadline/positive pressure to be better for themselves, their team and their company. So some people will prefer the office environment because they will be more focused 'in work mode'...they will admit it! (not all).
Technology can slow things down if the willingness to do wasn't already defined offline first (or at least scoped out). There is and always will be under-utilisation of new technology/software in companies...e.g. @ 80% of CRM systems are half used properly. But, it's always been seen that a great organised work approach will help draw everyone together and drive together better.
It's a bit like all the incredible management thinking / business models / frameworks / process improvements / research methods to reduce bias etc etc...only a fraction of this gets used in a practical business setting. That's why theres so many 'experts / consultants / agencies'...like us! haha...we prefer to be called 'practitioners' !!!
It depends on the task - some tasks are actually better done in a quiet closed room space or surrounding (so does it matter where it's done?).
Ultimately its the performance that matters. And ultimately people will leave your company if they want to. And you will make changes and get rid of people if you need to (or want to).
What To Do? - Our Top 3 Recommendations
WFH vs Office vs Hybrid
1) Be true to your company style - you don't have to follow the crowd or pretend to be like the rockstar companies. Your people just want purpose. But they also want an element of trust. Ultimately someone's performance will determine the future.
2) Be decisive - be clear and open in your decision making like everything else. Getting some feedback and listening to preferences across the team is good, but ultimately you need to do whats right for your business as the first priority.
3) Show some form of flexibility to people's non-work lives. Give-take balance has always gone a long way, it's not a new thing. Be open to trying some new things as keeping your great people is gping to make your life easier and company stronger.
REFERENCES
"Working in the office or working from home: Where are employees most creative?"
by Marc Rücker, Oscar Pakos, Sophia Windschiegl, Kai-Ingo Voigt
Comments