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Research shows hybrid work benefits both individuals and organizations, so why are many employers still resistant?
It’s a question Stanford University economics professor Nicholas Bloom struggles with 18 months after his paper in the prestigious Nature journal made a compelling case for hybrid work.
After running randomized control trials – a gold-standard research method that minimizes bias – his study showed hybrid work increased job satisfaction and reduced resignation rates by one-third, without any change to employee performance or productivity.
Despite this and a growing body of research with similar findings, more employers are enforcing return-to-office (RTO) mandates, requiring staff to come in at least four days each week.
Prof. Bloom is discouraged by the RTO mandates, which he believes are based on short-term business decisions and, in some cases, out-of-touch leaders.
For example, he says some RTO mandates are an indirect way for companies to reduce headcount without having to hand out pink slips.
“It’s cheaper to ask people to come back five days a week and hope they quit than lay them off,” Prof. Bloom says. “The problem with that strategy is you don’t get to choose who quits.”
At some companies, he says the RTO mandates are tied to a leader’s ego, privileged lifestyle and personal preferences.
“They get driven to the office, they have eight nannies and they love work, so for them going into the office isn’t a bad thing,” Prof. Bloom says. “It’s actually quite nice, because everyone laughs at all their jokes and they’re in charge and they think, why wouldn’t everyone want to spend 120 hours a week in the office?”
Prof. Bloom adds those leaders tend to be older, wealthier, extroverted men who own stock in the company and often frame in-office work as a benefit to the organization, without enough consideration of how their employees struggle to balance work and home life.
“Then there’s the third group – which I would I probably put [JPMorgan Chase chief executive officer] Jamie Dimon in – of fantastic business leaders that know stuff we don’t,” he says, adding that it can be hard to distinguish those in the latter two categories. “They’re probably paying people 5 per cent more to come in five days a week and the question is, is it worth paying a premium to have people come in on Friday? My view is ‘no,’ but Jamie Dimon may have data I don’t.”
The hybrid work benefits being overlooked
While leaders may have their own opinions and preferences on in-office work, Prof. Bloom says not enough are paying attention to the benefits of hybrid work.
“The sales pitch for hybrid work is that it’s profitable,” he says.
What makes hybrid work so effective, according to Prof. Bloom, is that it forces workers to organize tasks based on their setting, whether it’s in the office or at home, and tackle their collaborative and individual work in a more condensed timeframe.
Hybrid arrangements also help workers avoid pitfalls that come with fully remote work, such as loneliness and isolation, as well as those associated with group dynamics, such as peer pressure and groupthink.
“Creativity is often best when you have some time together in a group and some quality time on your own,” Prof. Bloom says. “All work roles typically have some time together, because that helps with innovative ideas, it helps energize people, but individual work time is good for reflection and kind of deep thought.”
The only real question that remains, in his view, is the optimal mix of remote and in-office time.
“Three days a week looks like it’s probably enough time in the office for mentoring, face time and business culture,” he says. “There is diminishing returns and, at some point, those extra days [at the office], their value declines.”
There’s also less value to the company, workers and productivity in letting individual staff pick their own schedules, according to Prof. Bloom, who advocates for keeping schedules consistent across teams or groups to make the most of in-office collaboration.
“When there’s choice at the individual level, what you find is that people come in and discover the office is half empty, and spend their day on Zoom, because their colleagues decided not to come in,” he says. “The primary benefits of coming into the office are working face-to-face with others, and that doesn’t work as well when people choose their days.”