Return to the office: is working from home coming to an end?

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Jamie Dimon thinks remote working is a disaster. The JPMorgan boss recently told staff they were “wasting their time” by signing a petition opposing his order that all staff should return to full-time office working. The bank is no longer prepared even to offer hybrid working, whereby staff split their time between the home and the office. It’s a growing trend, with more US and UK companies now joining the backlash against remote and hybrid working practices. Staff working from home don’t always pull their weight; they complain; and don’t contribute to the organisation’s culture or its spirit of collaboration.

Still, many employees still want to work remotely, at least sometimes. This is important to eight in 10 British workers, so changing policy may hit recruitment and retention. And all staff can request flexible working arrangements from day one in the job.

Eliminating distractions

Equally, remote working can benefit business. Survey results are mixed, but one of the most authoritative studies, by Stanford University, showed an average rise in productivity of 13% when staff work remotely. Researchers highlighted the lack of distractions away from the office and the time freed up when staff don’t have to commute. Still, for smaller firms this debate often feels particularly difficult. They will often have staff who want the option of working remotely. But with fewer employees overall, it can be more challenging to create such flexibility.

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How, then, to find a balanced position? Start by making sure you’re complying with legislation. Even if you don’t automatically offer remote or hybrid working, you need to respond fairly and consistently to staff who ask to work more flexibly, including from home. You don’t have to accept such requests, but you must have a genuine business reason for rejecting them. Maybe it would be too costly or compromise the company’s ability to serve its customers. Perhaps some tasks can’t be performed remotely. If you have clear policies and procedures for assessing flexible working requests, you’ll be able to justify saying no – as well as identify cases where you’re comfortable saying yes.

Take care here. Adopting a rigid approach to flexible working is likely to leave your business open to being challenged, so even if you’re instinctively opposed to offering remote opportunities, you may have to think about how to make it work. For example, even when staff are working from home, you’re still entitled to confirm working hours, and to put supervisory and reporting processes in place. It remains just as important, for example, that they notify you of absences or sicknesses, and agree on holiday in advance. One option for firms concerned about collaboration is to ask even fully remote workers to attend on-site meetings and events from time to time. This will improve their visibility and foster teamwork.

You can also use technology to bring people together even when they are in different locations. Privacy and security need to be addressed too. Many firms are rightly anxious about increased vulnerability to cyberattack or privacy breaches when staff are working at home, perhaps using their own devices. In which case, you need to put clear policies and procedures in place to address the risk. Equally, you still have responsibilities to staff when they’re working remotely. You may need to assess health and safety considerations, including purchasing new equipment so staff can work safely at home.

Some small firms will be frustrated by the extra hassle and cost that all of this implies. But focus on upsides too. Remote and hybrid working may enable you to recruit from a wider pool of talent, and your workforce may be more enthusiastic. As JPMorgan’s senior leaders are discovering, refusing to countenance even limited remote working can cause unrest.

This article was first published in MoneyWeek's magazine. Enjoy exclusive early access to news, opinion and analysis from our team of financial experts with a MoneyWeek subscription.

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.