10-23-2024
A recent New York Times piece examined the divergence between research showing hybrid work is good for business and the executives demanding workers return full-time to the office.
Top executives from Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Dell, and others have made headlines with their decision to require all employees to return to the office full-time. Top labor researchers like Stanford's Nick Bloom have shared research demonstrating that employees who work at least two days at home are equally productive and more likely to stay with their current employers. The New York Times asked a former H.R. person at Google about the demands for returning to the office. He said that executives do not find the research convincing or all that positive. In addition, this individual says managing is less satisfying when done remotely, and hybrid work is more complicated for managers to oversee. It is just easier to bring the workers back.
Adam Grant, a Wharton organizational psychologist, asserts the evidence is clear that hybrid is positive for work, pointing to a meta-analysis of 108 studies. He believes executives are not fully evaluating whether work effects are caused by remote work, the pandemic, or other factors, whereas researchers do examine the causes. Executives are predisposed to dismiss the outside data. They believe that their workplace cultures are unique, which Grant disputes. He says struggles and challenges look similar across industries based on his discussions with various C.E.O.s. Grant encourages executives to slow down to carefully consider whether it really is better to bring workers back before making such a “highly consequential, irreversible decision.”