If this pandemic did anything, it showed the truth of what organizations are capable of in regards to remote work. Organizations that directly or indirectly wouldn’t allow their employees to work from home were now forced to, but why weren’t they allow it before? I’ve encountered this many times, I worked in an office, at a computer, and very rarely sat face-to-face with anyone outside of my supervisor but in almost all of my jobs you were required to be in the office. 

One company I worked for explicitly stated that you were not allowed to work from home. However, this did not apply if you needed to finish work after your scheduled shift. Need to schedule more interviews? Sure, take that laptop home! Want to just work from home during your regular schedule? HECK NO! *Insert confused face here* 

I’ve heard many reasons why companies don’t “allow” it and it is always attempted to be framed positively. For example, “we are really team-oriented and appreciate collaboration,” we’ve had software for years and years that allowed virtual collaboration via video, messaging, and shared virtual workspaces (think Slack, Zoom, Skype, and Trello). 

The biggest reasons seem to be the lack of trust and control over employees. There is definitely the stigma that employees won’t work as hard or get as much work done if they work from home but that I do not believe that to be true. Also, there have been studies to show that it isn’t true. If you have select employees who aren’t being productive at home, then you can specifically speak to those employees. This cannot be a “one bad apples spoils the bunch” situation, we are all adults. If you can’t trust your employees and/or feel the need to control them (making sure their IM status shows green or available all the time, require check-ins, etc.), then you either have bad employees or you are a micromanager. Otherwise, you can address any issues with employees that are not meeting the standard at that time. That seems really simple to me, if you need to watch adults make sure they do their work, they aren’t a good employee. 

Another reason could be that the organization is just not set up for remote work. *looks around during the beginning of the pandemic* WELL YOU BETTER GET READY! These companies literally had to figure out how to make it work in a hurry! If your infrastructure can’t handle employees working from home, those cracks were definitely shown last year. Some companies laid-off employees, while others implemented social distancing practices. 

To be perfectly honest, if you aren’t having to physically deal with documents or files in the office (or there are regulations in your field), there is no reason why organizations were still requiring employees to come into the office (essential or not). Also, it is 2021, organizations should have already been moving toward having the capacity/ability to work remotely.

Let me be clear, obviously, service workers, warehouse workers, etc cannot work from home but where possible, employees should have been allowed to work from home. 

I also understand that not everyone has the desire to work from home but I definitely think that most positions should have the option for employees. 

That’s just my millennial two-cents. 

Stay well *