Feature
It’s hard to remember what things were like before the pandemic shifted people's perspectives on remote work. As I enter my 15th year of remote work, I remember how people would hear what I did and assume I worked in an office, especially after they found out the company I worked for was halfway across the country.
Remote work is much easier to explain today and for some people, it’s been a revelation. That might be changing though.
Remote workers were 35% more likely to be targeted for layoffs than their in-office equivalents in 2023, according to a survey cited in a recent Wall Street Journal article. That’s a staggering number. It made me wonder if we have truly absorbed the lessons of the last four years.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The Wall Street Journal article published right after news that Wayfair specifically targeted remote workers in its most recent round of layoffs. Wayfair co-founder and CEO Niraj Shah wrote in an email last month, “Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from.” According to reports, Wayfair employees felt like they weren’t being recognized for the hard work they had completed.
Wayfair isn’t the only company conducting layoffs. In 2023, the layoff rate nearly doubled as organizations reorganized following the exuberance of 2021 and 2022 led to hiring blitzes across every sector.
As the WSJ article mentions, there are many reasons why remote layoffs are more appealing than targeting folks who come into the office. Managing a remote workforce takes different types of skills than managing an in-person or hybrid workforce. Rather than adjusting skillsets, it’s easier to simply realign your staffing for those who can be managed with more traditional leadership skills.
The nagging perception that remote workers aren’t as productive as their in-person colleagues still lingers, although the accuracy of that claim is hardly settled. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco — among many other studies — concluded: “We find little evidence in industry data that the shift to remote and hybrid work has either substantially held back or boosted the rate of productivity growth.”
One thing we can all agree on is that it’s simply easier for organizations to move on from people they don’t see. It’s human nature and it’s difficult, but not impossible, to overcome.
Related Article: Meetings Are Not the Way to Tackle Proximity Bias in Hybrid Work
Ignoring the Benefits of Remote Work
As a remote work advocate, it’s hard to stomach targeting remote workers with layoffs. As employers appeared to embrace new ways of working and thinking for the last few years, they acknowledged the many benefits of adding remote work to their workforce strategy.
Without geographic hurdles, organizations were able to scale much more quickly to meet demand. Organizations that embraced remote work also had access to a global talent pool. Being able to hire people in areas that would otherwise be inaccessible because of a lack of office is a tremendous benefit. Some industries, like IT support and call centers, have continued their remote strategy in spite of challenges, but that isn't the norm.
The reversal also ignores the value of remote work or remote work flexibility for employees. Higher levels of flexibility is an incredibly important factor for prospective employees. Organizational leadership knows this because they take advantage of that flexibility while asking that employees to come into the office more than they do.
Seeing the commitment to exploring new ways of work vanish when business trends change might be understandable, but it doesn’t make it right.
Related Article: Forrester Predicts an EX Winter Is Coming. Here's How to Prepare
It Isn’t Over for Remote Work
Should we be giving up on remote work? Absolutely not. While the setbacks are frustrating, they're more a reflection of evolving workplace dynamics and the need for better remote work management strategies.
The shift to remote work has brought significant and difficult to ignore benefits to both organizations and individuals, like access to global talent and improved work-life balance. What we're seeing is not the end of remote work, but a call for organizations to adapt their management practices and fully embrace the nuances of a remote workforce.
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Remote work isn't going away. Instead, it's facing its next evolution. Organizations should recommit to taking thoughtful action and carefully calculating a workforce strategy that’s sustainable for all.
