Which is better, remote work or the office…
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.