Ever since remote work became a thing, countless people have wanted to debate how it compares to working from the office.
This typically revolves around the pros and cons of each or why one might be superior to the other.
In this article I’m going to try to explain why I think this debate is largely a waste of time.
Biased commentary
Have you noticed that most of the people who want to have this debate have a very strong vested interest in one way of working over the other?
But it’s really important to keep that in mind when yet another article comes out going over it yet again. Who wrote it and do they have a vested interested.
I’ll also state here, I am heavily biased in favor of remote work. I’m not going to pretend that I have some ability to fully put that aside.
I feel there are a couple of key points which help add nuance to this discussion but I often see them missed.
Task type
Some tasks just lend themselves better for one over the other. I’ve seen some people argue that because a factory worker cannot work from home then no one should. This makes no sense to me and shouldn’t form part of the conversation.
Others say the type of work or interdependence of other team members mean working in person makes more sense and would help with communication. Just because something feels easier, does not mean it is better.
Even in person, having more intentional communication practices would be beneficial. More complex tasks would clearly benefit from less interruptions.
Personal preference
Sometimes the conversation seems to suggest that everyone wants one way or the other. I don’t see many people recognizing that there are large groups in both camps here and that perhaps respecting people’s personal preferences could in itself be better for performance.
I have also seen a preference for those who self identify as introverted preferring remote working and those who consider themselves more extroverted to have a preference for the office.
There is much literature about the benefits of autonomy, flexibility and trust as key drivers of work performance.
I think the biggest issue we are seeing right now is actually the bait and switch, where companies try to lure people in with a remote or hybrid proposition and then demand they come into the office later on.
If you want people in the office, advertise for people who want to work at your office. Nothing good ever came from tricking your employees.
You’re not wrong
I think the type of work you do and your preferences for how that work is completed have a big impact on whether remote or office is better for an individual. But I think there is something else which is potentially having a bigger effect which is why I think the office vs remote conversation is somewhat pointless.
When it was conducting my literature review as part of my MBA research into remote worker productivity, I found a curious little nugget. It was not part of the main findings as I was not looking to make a comparison study but it did stick with me.
The beliefs of the management or leadership team about how effective remote or flexible working policies were, appeared to impact how effective the implementation of the changes were. It wasn’t directly studied by the research, but I saw it several times as I was reading through the literature.
What that suggests is that your biases will shape your actions and approach and that will determine your results.
Confirmation bias is a very strong but often unmentioned component in this discussion.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right
Henry Ford
These comparison or championing articles do have value when they help you consider the different options or give you some practical and actionable tips about how to work more effectively in either of those environments.
But you are unlikely to convince someone from the other side given the number of deep seated and interacting perspectives which helped them form the view they have.
So instead, I vote for the narrative switching to how can we learn from both sides to make the way we want to work more effective for us and our teams.
I’m curious to know if many people are recognizing this outside of the research, let me know your thoughts by sharing the post with the buttons below.
Flexible working means people can choose when and where they work. This can have obvious benefits for your people in terms of work-life balance, but also clearly can lead to increased productivity overall. It’s also about having the freedom not just to work from anywhere but to also unplug with confidence, knowing that your well-deserved break won’t turn into a chaotic catch-up game upon your return.
A well designed system covers both of these aspects but it’s also very easy to get this wrong.
It’s clearly possible to get this wrong. I’ve heard from people who worked remotely (location flex), but had to clock on at specific times and for minimum number of hours (no time flex). In the worst cases, employers were tracking the computer usage and making people request bathroom breaks.
The same systems that allows everyone to work flexibly will also allow you to actually take your annual leave and not feel the need to be tied to your phone or sticking their laptop in their bag with them.
Travelling without signal
Many people will break out in a cold sweat at the thought of this. In June 2023, Monica and I trekked Peru for 5 days (80km on foot), with no phone signal and the business didn’t burn to the ground (feet were a bit sore though).
Selfie or it didn’t happen
Then a few months later we went on a trip around Europe.
Even if you just love your job so much that you never want it to end, the universe might through some unexpected life events for you to need to handle. In all cases, getting this right means the business actually runs better overall and is more resilient.
There are a few key aspects I have found need to be in place to help with this. So today I’m going to break down some of the key components needed for an enjoyably smooth time away.
People
Plan in advance: Everyone should know your leave is coming up, who is handling your tasks while you are away and who to contact if unsure about anything.
No single points of failure: More than one person should be able to do the majority of each peace of work that is needed, who knows each process and who can step in if there are issues.
Culture: How you work is important, what the company values should be clear, this helps with the below.
Decision making: Firstly, you shouldn’t be making all the decision. This should be happening in a collaborative way within the different teams using the company values and vision as a guide. As a leader, your role is to help steer that process whilst you are there so everyone can get to the right point when you are not.
Process
Async comms: If you are default async, it means everything is stored for when you get back so you can catch up. Also, the job isn’t flexible if it relies in sync meetings to keep things moving.
Adaptable system for cover: This links to the plan and no single failure point above, but the systems you use at work need to be design to handle different people needing to step in to keep things moving. Computer says no is going to be a big hindrance otherwise.
Buffer: When running projects, setting deadlines or working with clients always have buffer built in. Humans are terrible at predicting these things and most stress and also mistakes will come from setting unreasonable plans and then failing to deliver.
The bottom line
If you tell everyone it’s important to take your leave and rest, but it’s do as I say and not as I do, it’ll fall on deaf ears.
I make sure to share pictures with the team when I get back and also do my best to try stay offline when I say I am away (and when I don’t, they tell me to get lost).
Also, I think the team you have is the most important aspect of making flexible working,.. work.
I could probably condense all the above down to the following…
Hire great people, point them in the right direction and let them get after it.
So it happened again, you delegated a task to someone on your team but there’s something not right with what they came back with.
Or, you went above and beyond for a client and are confused with the lacklustre thanks.
Maybe your manager keeps piling more things on your plate, it’s obvious you are swamped so why do they still do it?
If you’ve ever been in any of those situations, then it’s likely there was a breakdown in how you manage expectations.
Why is managing expectations at work important?
I consider this a keystone skill for remote workers. All work environments benefit from this, but when you work in a distributed team with more a-sync methods of communication the chance for misunderstanding increases.
Some other benefits you will see from improving how to handle this:
I always thinking about this framework when I am trying to manage expectations. It was first introduced to me by Andrés Novoa during our coaching sessions. But if I explain it badly, that’s on me.
The main thing is, can this provide a useful way to think about a problem.
Framework: Commitment, Action, Results
We need to be clear about what is the result or the outcome that we want to see.
We then need to reach an agreement with the other person about when this result will be achieved by. They are then making a commitment to achieving this result by the agreed deadline.
We are collaborating with others, not making demands. Often, managers simply tell other people want to do and then wonder why it doesn’t get done.
Flipping the conversation in this way drastically increases the chance of success, as you are actually getting a commitment from them instead of dropping more on them which they reluctantly say yes to.
Those commitments will determine the actions which need to be taken to get to the result. Your job is managing the commitment side and supporting them in achieving the goal.
Don’t be a task micromanager!
Delegating tasks
Let’s apply this into some examples.
You need someone on your team to take something off your plate to help free up some of your time to work on another project.
Previously you might simply jump on a call and say:
I need you to produce client reports for me every Friday, just go into the platform and add the data into the template, export and send it to me when ready
A made up example
Here, you focused on the specific actions.
You also stuck yourself in the middle which makes you a bottleneck in the process.
On top of that, you didn’t give any context. Now, it’s just another thing added to their list which they need to get through, not exactly motivating.
Using this framework, you can first explain the result that you want to see and why this is important.
In this case, we actually want to make sure clients are regularly updated. That’s the outcome we want from this.
Also, giving this task to someone else is a chance for them to develop new skills and also better understand a different aspect of the business.
Ask how they feel about taking on that task and could they commit to sending these updates to clients each week.
If they are happy to take on this new task, you’ve given clear guidance on what you need to see for this to be considered a success. You can show them what you currently do to give them a starting point, but these specific actions are not the important part.
Framing it in this way gives them space to own this process and develop it further.
Maybe even delivering a better result than what you were able to.
Managing up
Let’s flip the example.
Your boss just came to you and dumped some client report creation on your plate, they told you how they do it and they want to check it as well.
They seemed to have forgotten some other task they already asked you to do every Friday, so now the end of the week is getting jammed up and it makes no sense. Some other senior person also needs your help for a few hours each week on something else.
You are dealing with multiple conflicting priorities, with multiple people and you presume your Fridays foreer being ruined is the only option.
It’s not! It’s ok to push back and try to get some clarity.
I would love to help with that but I already have A, B and C on my plate. Which of those would you like me to deprioritise to make space for this extra task?
This makes them consider which of the tasks you have are most important, or maybe there is someone else who is better positioned to help with this.
But if not, go deeper.
To help me manage this, would it be ok that I produce a report for each client weekly, so that they still get regular updates but I can fit this around my other obligations.
You managing expectations like a pro
No reasonable person will say no to this and who wants to work for unreasonable people anyway.
Once you no longer get feedback on these reports, you can suggest that you send them directly to clients to free up your managers time even further.
First you have to show that you are a safe pair of hands and that it is being handled. This will be appreciated and also will also give you back a bit more flexibility too.
Everything is negotiable, and renegotiable.
What’s the commitment
It’s important to revisit the commitment regularly and check how things are progressing.
With this you can see what has happened so far and does that line up with everyone’s understanding about where things should be.
This ongoing feedback loop is critical to make sure the project doesn’t drift.
It also means if problems have occurred, they can be raised and guidance given about how to move forward.
When you have made a commitment and something is going wrong, it is always better to raise the issue early so it can be addressed.
Maybe the scope of the project can change, maybe they can get extra resources for the project or give additional support.
In a positive working environment, people will appreciate you having the difficult conversations and bringing issues to them so they can be resolved. You’ll build a reputation of being reliable.
The alternative is, you let the project drift off and potentially fail.
If that happens, you’ll always be asked “why didn’t you tell me sooner”.
I’ve been interested in remote worker productivity for a while now. It seemed like the perfect topic to explore more in pursuit of my MBA.
In this post I want to summarise some of my key findings (in less than 50 pages).
Research objectives
At the time, much of the world was in lockdown due to Covid-19 and therefore forced to work remotely. I was very aware that this is not what normal remote work looks like, so I focused my research on people who had been working remotely by design.
I had 3 key aims when designing this project:
What are the main elements which impact people’s productivity
What does the existing literature say about this
What recommendations can I offer after synthesising the two
Terminology is important, for this study I was looking to speak with people who had over a years experience working remotely and as part of a team. To count as remote, over 80% of their time should be from a location of their choosing.
Productivity is highly variable and because I was looking at people’s own experiences, across various industries and roles I focused on how they perceived their productivity.
Literature review
The current research has a number of limitations where they did not look at fully remote situations or the focus was more on well-being than productivity. I therefore had to look into topics which were closely related and be careful about how much of it could be applied to the situation I was interested in.
There were a few key themes of note due to the number of mentions or where multiple researchers held opposing views (which is always good for an interesting discussion).
Topics such as task type, teamwork, communication, autonomy, interdependence and flexibility. There were also some studies which looked at difference between remote workers and office workers, management and trust.
In the interests of space, I won’t go any deeper into this here. But perhaps a post for another day.
Methodology
Given the limited literature available in this area, I decided to use an exploratory research method. This was based on a Grounded Theory approach and was mostly focused around exploratory interviews with an number of participants, which were then analysed to see where patterns emerged.
Summary of key findings
5 themes came through strongly during the analysis part, these were:
Mutual trust
Trust has often been called the glue to holds remote teams together but one of the strongest themes that came through was the trust between manager and their direct report and how this needs to be mutual.
Managers first need to show that they trust the people on their team. One way to do this is by giving people the space to showcase their capabilities and complete tasks independently. When managers are then kept informed about how the work is progressing or kept informed about potential delays, trust grows.
With open communication between both sides and realistic expectations we get positive outcomes.
Low-trust environments suffer from limited information sharing, leading to suboptimal outcomes. Openness to new ideas and knowledge transfer are vital for fostering trust and encouraging innovation. Managers should strive to share critical information and embrace suggestions from their remote teams.
As trust between managers and employees grows, the need for frequent status updates diminishes. Granting flexibility empowers remote workers to optimize their productivity.
In return, employees who feel trusted are more likely to reciprocate flexibility and go the extra mile. It is important to strike a balance between responsiveness to colleagues’ requests and maintaining personal boundaries to promote a healthy work-life balance.
Micromanagement appeared to be a negative outcome which was driven by a lack of trust.
Work / rest flexibility
Remote work offers the sought-after flexibility of location and the ability to balance work with other commitments.
While many preferred a dedicated workspace for productivity, remote workers were willing to adapt their schedules to accommodate team meetings across different time zones.
However, reciprocity of flexibility is limited in low-trust environments, potentially impacting productivity.
Breaks were acknowledged as important for productivity, although workload pressures sometimes hindered taking them.
Flexibility allowed for self-regulated breaks, optimizing productivity by returning to work with renewed energy. The flexible schedule facilitated longer breaks to recharge and the ability to align work with peak productivity hours.
Participants also mentioned using flexibility to manage other aspects of life, such as avoiding traffic or allocating time saved to different activities.
Trust in the team was deemed essential for allowing such flexibility, although self-discipline and structure were important to maintain control.
Time blocking
Many interviewees emphasized the effectiveness of blocking off dedicated time in their day to focus on important tasks, especially when the work was complex. These time blocks allowed for uninterrupted work and increased productivity.
While primarily used for major tasks, some participants used this technique to tackle multiple smaller tasks and experience a sense of progress. The duration of these time blocks was important, ensuring that sufficient work could be completed. They were scheduled at times when being unreachable would cause minimal inconvenience to the team, ensuring productivity gains without negatively affecting others. Constant task-switching was recognized as detrimental to productivity and induced stress, making time blocking an effective strategy to mitigate these effects.
Some individuals strategically placed focused time blocks at the beginning of the day, leveraging the quiet period before colleagues came online. This allowed them to accomplish important tasks early and experience a sense of achievement. Later in the day, they could attend to smaller requests from teammates. Others scheduled time blocks during periods of high energy or aligned with specific work commitments, taking advantage of schedule flexibility.
The interviewees emphasized the importance of protecting these time blocks, often making them visible on shared calendars or informing colleagues about their availability. This proactive communication reduced potential frustration and kept everyone informed.
Overall, time blocking was highly valued for its ability to facilitate focused work, minimize distractions, and enhance productivity. By allocating dedicated time for specific tasks, individuals entered a flow state and achieved optimal output.
Self-discipline
Participants recognized self-discipline as essential for remote work, acknowledging it as a skill that requires practice and training. Attention to detail was highlighted in jobs, where self-discipline ensured focused and distraction-free work to maintain high-quality output. Distractions were considered productivity pitfalls, prompting the use of self-discipline practices like time blocking to safeguard against them.
Establishing a routine or schedule, even with flexibility, was mentioned as important for habit-building and maintaining discipline. Some emphasized the significance of dressing in professional attire and creating a symbolic commute to cultivate the right mindset. While not explicitly discussed, other participants emphasized time management and responsibility, which were closely linked to self-discipline.
Discipline extended beyond work schedules and task completion to include taking breaks, particularly when fatigued.
While participants recognized the importance of breaks for productivity, many found it challenging to step away from work, often due to being in a workflow or striving to meet deadlines. Some individuals experienced guilt when taking breaks, despite understanding their necessity and recommending regular breaks to others.
Remote work’s flexible nature can lead to overworking or underworking, making self-discipline crucial in managing this aspect.
Overall, self-discipline emerged as a critical factor that influenced productivity and served as a foundation for controlling other aspects of remote work.
Physical or mental activity
Participants in the study emphasized the positive impact of physical or mental activities on their productivity, even though these activities were not considered part of work time.
Engaging in activities such as going to the gym, running, practicing yoga, meditating, or taking walks (sometimes accompanied by a dog) proved beneficial. Meditation provided a mental break before resuming work, while getting outside for fresh air allowed their brains to rest from tasks and their eyes from screens, resulting in a productivity boost.
Gym attendance, although challenging due to COVID-19 restrictions, served as both physical exercise and a change of environment for those working from home. These activities were not classified as the flexible breaks previously mentioned, but rather longer, more structured routines that contributed on a larger scale.
What might this look like
You can already see how some of these aspects actually interacted, so my final step was to try put this into some kind of framework to help make sense of the results.
I started with trust, as that seemed foundational. Without it, the other aspects appeared difficult to implement.
As the mutual trust develops, flexibility and time blocking strategies can be utilised. This does take self-discipline, but when this works well the end result is an increase in overall productivity. This strengths the mutual trust that exists and allows the cycle to continue upwards.
This is the key finding from my research and why I have such a strong believe in the benefit of trust in a remote work environment as a driver of productivity.
A trust-based conceptual framework for remote worker productivity
Recommendations
To help create this type of working environment in your own company I made the following recommendations:
Managers and team leaders should focus on what should be achieved by their team, instead of the number of tasks completed or hours worked.
The organisation should foster a trust-based environment where the expectations of the staff are clearly set and freedom is given in how those objectives are achieved.
To help with managing these expectations, leaders should work to develop a culture of open communication to avoid misunderstandings.
The above will create a work culture which is markedly different to what many people have experienced before, as such new staff should be given extra support to help them adapt.
Which of these are already in place at your current place of work? Do you disagree with any of the suggestions?
Let me know in the comments below.
This post summarises 6 months of work which was condensed into a 12,000 word submission which I have aimed to reduce even further to get to the key points without you falling asleep at the screen.
