"The only chance that employers have of winning the class struggle and restoring the ancient regime before the pandemic is if they band together to force employees back to the office. But absent such a grand capitalist conspiracy, employees will vote with their feet and clever employers will use flexibility as a recruitment tool."
100% remote will work well for some people and some employers.
100% in-office with work well for others.
But a hybrid approach is likely what knowledge workers will see most often going forward.
(On the subject of what "hybrid" should look like, The Wall Street Journal recently published an article showcasing research that suggests a 2-3 approach -- versus the more common 3-2 approach many companies have adopted -- is actually ideal. It's an interesting read.)
I've come across a few of those clever employers over the past few months.
These companies proactively mention during early interviews how they've incorporated a hybrid work approach into their culture, offering employees some highly-desirable flexibility while still maintaining some office presence to foster culture, collaboration, and connection.
Not surprisingly, those companies almost always end up being much more attractive than the ones that say "we'll need you to be in the office five days a week."
Because telling candidates you'll need to see them in person every day says a few things.
It says, "We don't care about how you want to work or how you feel most productive."
It says, "We don't care about the time and money you have to spend to get to the office."
It says, "We don't trust you to do the job we hired you to do if we can't watch you doing it."
Now raise your hand if you want to work somewhere that says all of those things to you before you're even hired?
For companies who haven't yet realized the benefits of a hybrid solution, here's an alternative approach you may want to consider: hire "fully formed adults" and then trust them to do their job regardless of where they choose to do it.
It's an idea that might just be crazy enough to work.
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