With Amazon one of the latest big employers to mandate a full-time return to the office, it appears that remote and hybrid working is fast becoming the exception rather than the norm. What is behind this return to on-site?
Amazon’s announcement in September requiring employees to return to the office five days a week sparked significant public and media debate, says Louise Campbell, senior manager at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
“The policy shift marked a bold move away from remote or hybrid work, which had become widespread during the pandemic,” says Campbell. “Many viewed this decision as signalling a broader trend toward reinstating traditional office norms.”
Amazon justified the decision by emphasising the value of in-person collaboration, Campbell explains: “According to the company, working in-office enables employees to be ‘better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other’. This reasoning aligns with the belief held by some corporate leaders that physical proximity fosters innovation, strengthens team cohesion and accelerates decision making – factors deemed vital to maintaining a competitive edge in fast-paced industries like technology.”
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However, it’s difficult to overlook the benefits that remote work has offered, says Campbell: “Access to a broader talent pool for employers, greater career accessibility for job seekers, the elimination of presenteeism, increased productivity in many cases, reduced absenteeism, higher employee retention, and significant savings on travel, childcare and other commitments.”
She adds: “Moreover, remote work has contributed to overall job satisfaction and improved work-life balance for much of the working population, highlighting its transformative impact on the modern workplace.”
Among employers, there are mixed views on remote and hybrid working, says Dr Colin Hughes, head of the Graduate Business School at TU Dublin.
“On one hand, there is a feeling among some employers that they have lost control over employees regarding working arrangements – perhaps unsurprising in an era of full employment, where employees have more power,” he says.
“Several prominent business leaders have publicly stated their dislike for flexible working and tried to revert to pre-Covid working arrangements. In Ireland, there has been an increase in the number of mandated on-site days in many organisations and an increase in monitoring compliance with agreed policies.”
However, senior leaders in several organisations Hughes has spoken to are happy with their current arrangements and see many benefits to continuing to offer lots of flexibility to employees.
“Furthermore, many businesses rely on talent located around the world and remote working will continue to make sense for them,” he says. “It is a matter of meeting business needs while also being able to attract and retain great talent. It is a balancing act and there is still a lot of uncertainty within organisations regarding the optimum solution for them.”
Many employees Hughes speaks to are not convinced by the rationale given to them for spending more time in the office. “While organisations have worked hard to attract people back to the office, employees are not convinced that three days makes a big difference, compared to two days, for instance, and they question the value of commuting to the office to sit on teams or zoom calls or to complete work on an individual basis.
“Often, they are in the office and very few other colleagues are there, so the opportunities for collaboration are low.”
Organisations have been piloting different approaches and trying to find out what works for their organisation or different categories of staff, as not all roles are equal, says Hughes. “Many are also trying to ensure fairness. However, communication is not always great, and employees can be frustrated with the changes and related uncertainty.
“Moves to increase the number of on-site days, some very well publicised in the media, are also seen by some employees as a cynical way of reducing headcount by forcing people to leave, rather than offering redundancy packages.”
For graduates and early-career employees, the opportunity to learn from experienced peers and observe workplace dynamics at first hand is undeniably valuable, says Campbell. “Graduates working remotely full-time typically miss out on developing crucial socialisation skills, as career progression involves much more than technical proficiency. Skills such as effective communication, conflict management, giving and receiving feedback, and building high-performing, engaged teams become significantly more complex in a virtual setting.
“By bringing employees together under one roof, employers are better positioned to foster these skills in a unified and consistent way.”
Many organisations pride themselves on having very ‘employee-centric’ cultures where they seek to create high levels of trust and belonging, says Hughes. “This has been quite a movement in recent years and has been very well received by employees.
“However, there are many examples of organisations pulling back on that focus quite quickly when performance dips and shareholders or investors demand changes. Therefore, if the economy softens – which it inevitably will, as these things are cyclical – it will be interesting to see just how important employee-centric cultures are perceived to be.”
Hughes believes hybrid and remote working are here to stay. “Employees want the flexibility and autonomy that it allows. However, there can be downsides, such as isolation, an inability to switch off, a lack of engagement with one’s team or organisation, and communication and mentoring challenges, to name a few.
“For it to be effective, decisions need to be evidence-based and include a consideration of the varying needs of employees and the nature of their roles.”