You may have read in the UK press recently that a leading internet company has instructed its Head of Human Resources to issue a memo to staff stating that there will be no more remote working. Could this mean the beginning of the end for homeworking?
This development is interesting because companies witin the technical sector are considered to be in the vanguard of atypical working practices and in many ways they are innovative in schemes aimed at increasing employee engagement.
The company memo states that “to become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important … we need to be working side-by-side”. The company says that the reason for the change is to reinvigorate the company’s culture and innovation.
Do you agree that remote working dilutes culture and stifles innovation? Surely the benefits of taking out the stress of commuting and increasing productivity by more hours actually working should be considered carefully before bringing an end to homeworking?
Statistically it seems that employees are less likely to be promoted if they work from home, but that is not necessarily a bad thing for them or the business; their ambitions and objectives may be different at any particular stage of their career for different reasons.
What do you think about remote working policies? Does their success or otherwise just come down to a matter of trust?
