Despite all the talk about flexibility as the future of work, more and more prominent business leaders are pushing harder than ever to get their people back into the office. Tech leaders have gone on record saying they still don’t understand how to build great management systems in a remote work setting. Others have warned that executives will try to “boil the frog” to get people back into the office through implicit pressure that could breed proximity bias.
As a technical leader and founder, I understand the reluctance some executives feel around hybrid and remote work, and was initially pretty skeptical myself. We invested a lot of resources building our largely in-office culture before the pandemic. Remote work arrangements at my company, Gusto, were the exception. However, our unexpected foray into remote work and more recent experience with a hybrid model reminded me that leadership’s reflex to stick with what we know is not always best for our people, and runs contrary to our role as innovators.
The tech industry is known for big-picture innovation, and has driven more change in the last 10 years than in the previous 80–yet many companies are still clinging to outdated, inflexible work models.
Recent Comments