Forcing Remote Teams to Come Back Full Time May Be Hurting Your Business

Remote work might have been crucial in the face of the pandemic, but now that companies are bringing employees back to the workplace, many are pushing back. While we can of course assist with your implementation of remote work technologies, there might be more reason to consider allowing for remote work. This doesn’t come from just us; it also comes from industry experts.

In-House Work Doesn’t Always Work

“But from my experience, if you are counting on forced hours spent in a traditional office to create collaboration and provide a feeling of belonging within your organization, you’re doing it wrong.”
— Michael Dell, of Dell Technologies

Even big names like Michael Dell are advocating for remote work under the correct circumstances.

Where Does This Sentiment Come From?

Let’s establish some context for this quote.

Several months back, an author named Malcolm Gladwell, the mind behind books like Outliers, Blink, The Tipping Point, and many other works—sat in on a podcast. During the podcast, Gladwell expressed some choice opinions about remote work, including the following:

“I know it’s a hassle to come to the office. But if you’re just sitting in your pajamas in your bedroom, is that the work life you want to live?”

"We want you to have a feeling of belonging and to feel necessary and we wanted you to join our team, and if you're not here it's really hard to do that."

"If we don't feel like we're part of something important, what's the point? If it's just a paycheck, then what have you reduced your life to?"

“It could have[sic] a really lovely thing where, if you preferentially select people based on their desire to work in the office, that’s a really wonderful way to build a really nice office culture, right? For the moment, you can just cream-skim all the people who believe in the value of that.”

Despite the fact that Gladwell does most of his work from his home office or local eateries, has no dependents to take care of, and collected all observations noted in his own audiobook and podcast company, we won’t poke too many holes in his argument. Instead, we’ll let Michael Dell do the talking. Dell published his thoughts on Gladwell’s comments in a blog post he shared on LinkedIn—which is where his above quote came from.

Dell Describes a Very Different Remote Work Experience

Dell started implementing remote work for his company years ago. Nowadays, about 65% of his employees work remotely anywhere from one to five days a week—and this was well before the pandemic forced them to go fully remote.

A study called the Dell Technologies Breakthrough study, put together by Dell Technologies and a U.K.-based technology market research company called Vanson Bourne, backs up Dell’s claims. According to the 10,500-people study, around 80% of respondents saw remote work bringing significant benefits, including but not limited to financial independence, more time with loved ones, and increased time for personal projects. According to Dell, an astounding 88% of employees hired since March of 2020 plan to remain at the company.

It’s not all sunshine with the study, though. 58% of respondents claim to struggle with work/life balance, while 41% feel burnt out. Dell goes on to state something that we perhaps agree with the most: that “...you have to supply your team with the right tools and processes.”

Implement the Right Technology to Maximize Productivity

Dell has made plenty of great decisions in the wake of the pandemic, particularly in its efforts of digital transformation, i.e. adopting more flexible and beneficial IT solutions. For example, here are some ways Dell has grown more resilient with remote technology.

• Dell was much more prepared for the jump to remote operations and was even able to launch new products throughout the pandemic.
• The flexibility of remote work allowed Dell to put together a strategy to return to the workplace with minimal friction and disruption.
• This safety-first mindset helped Dell build a strong company culture.

As Dell shared in his post:

“We’ve realized that one size does not fit all and shifted away from focusing on where our team members work to what they need to do, and ensuring they have the right tools, support, and technology to do it.”

We Can Provide the Tools You Need to Make Remote Work a Success

Don’t let the struggles of implementing technology solutions hold your business back from success with remote operations. To get started the right way, contact Ferrum Technology Services at (847) 697-3282.