When the pandemic forced so many of us out of the office and into our homes, working from our studies, spare rooms and sofas was hailed as a blessing in disguise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employees have pushed for more remote and hybrid work for a long time; finally, they have a chance to show sceptical managers that the benefits to their well-being may not come at the expense of productivity, accountability and team cohesion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back over the last four years, they did just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But distributed teams didn\u2019t become the new normal because of the pandemic. Employees settled into hybrid and remote work because the evidence appears to show that it made them happier, more energised each day and, crucially, more<\/em> productive, rather than less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why are employers and policymakers starting to reevaluate our relationship with remote and hybrid working?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this report, our intention is not to diagnose whether remote work is ultimately good or bad \u2013 frankly, there are enough blogs, podcasts and LinkedIn posts already doing that already. We will provide an overview of the data: what does it really tell us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are distributed teams really working \u2014 and what kinds of tools and strategies can we implement to help turn around burnout and disengagement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, our view of remote work is changing because the picture of distributed teams is changing too. In their 2024 State of the Global Workforce report<\/a>, Gallup found that employee engagement had stagnated in the last year, while employee wellbeing had been in a clear decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gallup measures wellbeing<\/a> by looking at metrics like life evaluation, daily negative emotions, burnout, and an employee\u2019s belief that their organisation cares about their wellbeing. While their research found that 34% of global employees were scored as \u201cthriving in life\u201d, that number had dropped from 2022 to 2023. Meanwhile, 58% were said to be struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s worth noting that many companies are reevaluating their remote work policies due to pressures from the real estate industry. But others point to concerns about the impact on human connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Scott Galloway notes that one in three romantic relationships begin at work. If employees spend most of their time at home \u2014 especially younger workers at the start of their careers \u2014 where are they going to meet their friends and partners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also the perceived impact on career progression to consider. Many business leaders advocate for in-office working to help early and mid-career professionals advance in their chosen field. But remote work also enables people who can\u2019t afford a move to a larger city \u2014 or simply don\u2019t want to \u2014 the opportunity to work for a global company and earn a larger salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s worth noting that some people have always struggled with hybrid models. In the study How Hybrid Working From Home Works Out<\/a>, Nicholas Bloom highlights the differences between the employee and manager experience of hybrid work. Although hybrid work led overall attrition rates to fall by a third, manager attrition rose by 55%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You could surmise that managers haven\u2019t enjoyed managing people remotely, but as the same study shows, pre-hybrid trials, managers were more likely to predict hybrid would lead to a negative outcome: they expected hybrid to fail.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The reality is it\u2019s easy to be reactive. And it\u2019s easy to not let time educate us. Natalia Emanuel said as much in The Atlantic<\/a>\u2019s Good On Paper podcast:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emanuel ends the discussion by indicating that while remote and hybrid work has many benefits, we haven\u2019t created a perfect system by any means.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRemote Work: What Changed?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why Are We Rethinking Remote Work Now?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
We Can\u2019t Overlook the Benefits of the Office<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Does Remote Work Really Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n