Remote Work - Long Term or Not

[bundabergdevil]

Ethan Strauss with a compelling retort to Gladwell
https://houseofstrauss.substack.com/...m-home-is-good

Good for Strauss. I thought Malcolm’s opinion was a bit of an Outlier.

[missfinch]

Good for Strauss. I thought Malcolm’s opinion was a bit of an Outlier.

Good one. Can’t spork.

[Bluedog]

Perhaps it's hard to believe because they're arguing opposite sides, but I kinda agree with Gladwell AND Strauss. In my industry, there's nothing like starting out and being on client site, learning in a collaborative setting, being forced to interact with client stakeholders in person, whiteboard out issues with your coworkers. Without those experiences, I would be much worse off in my career. I look at the people who have been hired out of college in the last couple years and those they have solely worked from home have undoubtedly suffered in their skill and knowledge development with no fault of their own. They don't get the organic "after the meeting" feedback and the like or learn how to build face to face business relationships. They, of course, don't know any different so don't know what they're missing and in fact probably will demand the current setup going forward. They are also less loyal to the company as personal relationships aren't as easily developed and are driven more to job hop for money increases.

On the other hand, I absolutely love the work/life balance of remote work and based on where I'm in my career, don't miss traveling or going into an office. But that's probably more of a function of family/home obligations and the like and that I'm not early career really pushing to progress and expand my skills/show my stuff off.. previously, my company basically has no women in consulting roles have a baby and stick around, now it happens with frequency. Such a game changer. I probably would have left if not for the shift.

So, I think it affords people a lot more flexibility but does dampen enthusiasm and skill development in highly collobarative industries and those early in their careers absolutely aren't getting the same growth experiences that their predecessors got. There is also a sense of being "removed" from the situation which definitely has an impact of people not quite caring as much as when they where stuck in a room on Omaha wanting to be done with it all at 10pm in preparation for the big presentation with the CFO the next day. It's just a totally different dynamic at play. You feel more part of a team in person which is Gladwell's point. Not that you can't necessarily still do good work remotely.

[duke74]

Perhaps it's hard to believe because they're arguing opposite sides, but I kinda agree with Gladwell AND Strauss. In my industry, there's nothing like starting out and being on client site, learning in a collaborative setting, being forced to interact with client stakeholders in person, whiteboard out issues with your coworkers. Without those experiences, I would be much worse off in my career. I look at the people who have been hired out of college in the last couple years and those they have solely worked from home have undoubtedly suffered in their skill and knowledge development with no fault of their own. They don't get the organic "after the meeting" feedback and the like or learn how to build face to face business relationships. They, of course, don't know any different so don't know what they're missing and in fact probably will demand the current setup going forward. They are also less loyal to the company as personal relationships aren't as easily developed and are driven more to job hop for money increases.

On the other hand, I absolutely love the work/life balance of remote work and based on where I'm in my career, don't miss traveling or going into an office. But that's probably more of a function of family/home obligations and the like and that I'm not early career really pushing to progress and expand my skills/show my stuff off.. previously, my company basically has no women in consulting roles have a baby and stick around, now it happens with frequency. Such a game changer. I probably would have left if not for the shift.

So, I think it affords people a lot more flexibility but does dampen enthusiasm and skill development in highly collobarative industries and those early in their careers absolutely aren't getting the same growth experiences that their predecessors got. There is also a sense of being "removed" from the situation which definitely has an impact of people not quite caring as much as when they where stuck in a room on Omaha wanting to be done with it all at 10pm in preparation for the big presentation with the CFO the next day. It's just a totally different dynamic at play. You feel more part of a team in person which is Gladwell's point. Not that you can't necessarily still do good work remotely.

This post completely captures my thoughts on the issue. Being a 45-year veteran of the public accounting profession, I completely agree with the need to interface with our clients, our colleagues, and our mentors. We have a generation of newly hired professionals during the last two years who have never seen the office, the client or the colleagues other than on zoom or teams calls. We have catching up to do to assist their development and to make them the best professionals they can be.

On the other hand, as noted above, there are great benefits in the flexibility afforded by remote work, especially for those with young children and other family responsibilities.

There is a trade-off, and eventually society and the business community will figure out how this all fits together.