The real reason your company won't make you work remotely

You’d hope that all companies have a logical reason for their decisions, right? For anyone working more than one year, you know that sometimes rules mandated by some managers can be highly suspect. Some would even go far as saying they don’t care about their team and are just trying to further their career.

With our clients we’re seeing a disconnect during the hybrid and remote-work debate. The majority of workers want to work from home as they believe they are more productive and have grown accustomed to a better balance of life and work.

Despite the desires of workers, we’ve observed some companies disregard their needs. While some companies mention, “There may be remote opportunities,” it's mostly just talk as the majority of companies want workers back in the office.

Success in the corporate world includes “playing the game”. Being good isn’t enough; you have to network with the “right” insiders, make yourself known, suck up to bosses and put in long hours to show your commitment.

The unplanned global experiment of working from home during the pandemic made us realise that remote work…works. Not only was it successful, employees spent more hours on their tasks and for some companies their stock prices soared.

‍Considering there’s the nearly universal acceptance of remote work, what’s the underlying reason some companies are pushing back on it? 

Results Not Hours

Before the pandemic, workers had to show how steadfastly they labored all day long; it's all about facetime. If your manager sees you, they feel you’re being productive, even if you're not.

You’d also have to be the first one in the office and the last to walk out. Send emails early in the morning, late at night and on weekends. Whatever was needed to stand out and get noticed.

Remote work prevents a charade. It's all about productivity. If you’re out of sight, managers can only measure you on results. 

Middle Management Is Scared

Middle and senior managers have to crack the whip. Supervisors enjoy their power over you, it makes them feel important. Some have endless meetings that allow them to drone on and on while you suffer. They’ll ask for ideas, then offer them later to the top executives, claiming it as their own.  

With a distributed remote workforce, middle management will lose their stranglehold on you and can’t micromanage. Senior-level executives could wonder what middle managers are actually doing?

Expensive Real Estate

Major companies have invested a lot in purchasing or leasing office space. If staff don’t return, the C-suite executives have to eat the expensive costs of their buildings. Additionally, with other companies moving towards remote, it will become increasingly hard to sublease. 

CEO’s and CFO’s view the empty space as throwing money out the window and believe it's more economically feasible to have people in the office and prevent the feeling of wasting money. 

It's Hard Work

Having everyone together under one roof is easier than a widely dispersed workforce. A hybrid model, with people coming into the office two or three times a week, adds more complications. 

Managers would then have to keep track of everyone. They’ll need to exert a lot of scheduling. If not done right, remote workers could start feeling like second-class citizens, as they’re out of sight and out of mind.

Again, even though it's in the best interests of employees to continue working remotely, ulterior motives are at play and pushing back on this trend. There will be corporate drones afraid of change and the hard work associated with it. They prefer living in the past. These are the individuals who say “we’ve always done it this way” and there’s no need to make any changes.‍

​McKenzie Williams is a Marketing Integrator, embracing Digital Workplace Transformation to provide businesses with a senior, remote workforce you can trust. We provide the objectivity of an outside counsel with the connectedness of an in-house team.