In this month of March, it will be five years since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which lasted from 2020 until mid-2022. Faced with social isolation, a lot of adaptation was needed, including in the job market. Those who did not need to immediately close their doors, like commerce workers, started adopting home office and that was the great salvation of that time. However, we increasingly see that this work model is being abandoned. The question is: why?
For some time now, I have noticed a movement by companies to make their employees go to the office to work in person many times a week or every day, thus ending the home office. The explanation for this is to promote greater interaction among team members and also increase productivity, avoiding distractions and maintaining focus.
In fact, we can see that even remote job positions are becoming much harder to find than before. Whether on LinkedIn or recruitment platforms like Gupy, there are fewer and fewer remote work opportunities for the vast majority of fields, while in-person roles are constantly increasing, and I feel the trend is likely to continue this way.
I see this situation as the ‘fault’ of both parties because we know that many employees pretend to work from home, leaving the house during working hours and dedicate themselves to other tasks, neglecting the main commitment to the company. This behavior ends up harming those who do everything right and are paying the price along with this group of people.
The truth is that some people do not know how to work based on trust, which can be quite detrimental to the relationships we need to establish in the work environment, whether online or in person. Spotify says they intend to continue working remotely because they are adults. Maybe this works well for them because they were born this way. However, the vast majority of the population is not like that, unfortunately.
On the other hand, although it may seem that there has been some progress, I continue to notice a lack of preparedness in companies’ management to deal with remote workers, which happens because they cannot conduct qualified leadership and resort to micromanagement. This need to know what the other person is doing all the time and to excessively demand ends up being exhausting.
The point is that both employees and companies are in this together and will suffer the consequences. I believe that abandoning home office and fully adopting in-person work is not a good choice. The moment organizations make this decision, they may end up losing talent, especially those who live far from the location and the daily expenses will not compensate financially. Some roles and circumstances can facilitate remote work, where both the company and the employee truly benefit. But again, if there is no trust, it won’t work.
Furthermore, it has been proven that the home office model is able to improve people’s quality of life, mainly in terms of time, as it saves many workers from the need to leave home very early and spend hours in traffic. This time can be better utilized, whether for rest, physical activity, or any other task the individual desires.
The fact is that there has always been a middle ground: hybrid work can be a good solution for companies. However, we need to be fair, it’s not useful to have 4 days in person, just 1 day of home office and call it ‘hybrid.’ We need to be fairer and create a balance so employees feel they are truly having both experiences: in-person and remote work.
However, it will be necessary to repeat what had been said back in the pandemic era – companies need to learn and be prepared to deal with a team that is online, creating strategies to include them and be able to lead even remotely. While employees must take responsibility for their work, delivering productivity and quality even from home. And we know it is possible.
