Hybrid is of course the future, and my Zoom shares will be worth a fortune
The only good to come out of this pandemic is that it's accelerated the argument and culture for working remotely by about 20 years.
I know we're not all lucky enough to have jobs where we're able to do it, and that it's not for everyone - and full time, certainly not that healthy.
But I think it's taught two big cultural shifts in business culture: (1) commuting is absolutely stupid; and (2) most full-time jobs can be done in less time, productivity isn't linked to time spent in an office, and work-life balance is a really important thing. Crucially, happy people work better.
Me, I've always taken a pay hit and worked flexibly, and just done my job quicker so I can enjoy the world outside more. I'd much rather work four days a week, just work harder and try and wangle higher wages, than be one of those people staring at their office clock to tick over to 5pm. Seems crazy. So much time is wasted in offices, and ironically I've always found that the ones who are obsessed with presenteeism, complain about being busy, and stare obsequiously at their watch when you arrive at 9.45am are the least productive employees, by far.
The bigger the company, the harder it is to shift the culture, so it's been quite revolutionary during COVID for businesses to learn that they won't fall over if no staff are in the office, and that employees are actually happier and just as productive.
The biggest challenges, apart from to commercial property and London landlords for whom I serenade with the world's tiniest violin, is actually to management. Again depends on the job, but when staff work remotely you've actually got to give them enough to do, project manage properly and judge their performance on actual performance and productivity, rather than Karen being at her desk all day telling everyone how busy she is while sending passive aggressive emails and doing group coffee orders which somehow take an hour. The
perception of who's doing a good job and who isn't is tricky enough for management - especially bad managers who don't understand things - and harder when you can't physically watch staff. But then it's not meant to be easy, that's why they get paid the management bucks.
For workers, there are very few downsides to the 2 + 3 in office or home hybrid. More family time, more flexibility, time doing stuff you love, less time wasted on trains or in traffic, and if you knock off all your work an hour early, you can just go play with the dog.
I think the next shift, that will be not far behind will be to a four day week, on full time wages. Productivity is the key, presenteeism is not. If you're making a cabinet you should get paid for the cabinet, not the time you spend fannying about looking busy with the cabinet.
