The need to “preserve culture” is frequently mentioned as a critical reason for requiring people to return to the office following 18 months of remote work.
For example, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, said recently that remote work would “dramatically undermine” the character and culture a company is attempting to build. Others, such as Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, have said remote working is a “pure negative” because it gets in the way of innovation.
While we have great respect for these industry leaders, we can’t help but feel that their statements reveal a resistance to change; a resistance which, at its core, is likely driven by concerns over their ability to achieve business outcomes. They know how to get stuff done in the old model and are, understandably, eager to get back to it. They insist on the view that remote work was just a necessary response to a 100-year pandemic. A mere aberration.
But in doing so, they increasingly sound like the people who wanted to hold on to their horse and buggy and decried the dangers of the early automobile while ignoring the apparent promise of its many advantages.
We’re not saying that some aspects of work don’t require in-person collaboration. Simply that as workplace technologies have continued to improve, more can be accomplished remotely. And adding to these changing tides, the pandemic has fundamentally changed employees’ beliefs and expectations in how work gets done and moreover, how it fits into their broader life.
And while for now, many organizations believe they have the power to dictate where, when and how work gets done, we think that eventually, remote work will inevitably become a significant part of the way work gets done. The hybrid workplace is already here. We just have to figure out a few adjustments before it’s ready to go mainstream.
Of course, there will be discomfort, glitches, and even melancholy for things lost. But in the end, when the early adopters like Twitter and HubSpot have ironed out the wrinkles, the advantages they and their employees reap will far outweigh the negatives.
So, in today’s post, we want to start a conversation with those of you who are willing to embrace this massive rethink.
- First, we’ll clarify that culture isn’t dependent on the four walls of a physical office.
- Next, we’ll remind ourselves how culture is created and what this means for managers and leaders in a hybrid workplace.
- And lastly, we’ll touch on some of the key challenges that hybrid models pose and that need to be resolved to make the hybrid workplace a viable option.