Some observations from Tom Hayes
Summary: Hybrid work succeeds when managers trust staff to deliver. Working from home gives quiet thinking time; office days spark ideas through casual chats. But most workers still can't work from home at all, and need other options
On my way back from the CHRO Global European summer summit in Sitges, I stopped off to visit some friends in France. They are a professional couple, both working for US companies with a baby less than a year old. They work “hybrid”, some days in the office, some days at home. I saw the shifts they put in while working from home while, at the same time, looking after the little one. No suggestion of slacking, spending time on the golf course, or lazing by a swimming pool in their case, though as France was in the middle of an abnormal heatwave you could not blame them for taking a quick swim.
As I left, they were both off to the office for the rest of the week. Hybrid work works, if managed properly and if senior executives trust those who work from home to deliver what they are required to deliver. I have been working on my own since the dawn of time. I started working from home when quill pens were still in use. Even then you had to catch a goose or a swan and extract a feather to make the pen. But working on my own worked for me.
But my days in Sitges at the CHRO meeting reminded me of one thing. We humans are social animals and need the company of one another from time to time. Working on your own from home can give you time, space, and quietness. It allows you think about things and to write without interruption. Provided you have the discipline to plan and manage your time. For example, I wrote the final item in this newsletter(Irish Supreme Court judgement in Verizon) at home. I doubt if I could have done that were I in an office surrounded by colleagues.
But we do need to spend collegiate time with those we work with. The conversations during coffee and lunch breaks in Sitges sparked ideas and got me thinking. The chance remark can help put the final piece in an intellectual jigsaw slot into place. Or, suggest a new line of thinking. The mind does not always work in straight lines. My road trip to Sitges convinced me that where it is possible, hybrid work works. Being at home gives you time to think, but being in the office and talking with colleagues adds another dimension.
Anytime I write about remote work I always like to make the point that only some of us are lucky enough to be able to work in this way. 60-70% of all workers still have to turn up in person every day. We need to think about how we can offer these workers a more flexible approach so that they too can find a better balance between their work and their personal lives. A challenge, but not an easy one.
Some further reading: irishtimes.com/business and sciencedirect.com
