After the quarantine, think

The 2020 quarantine, with its spate of "stay at home" orders and closure of offices, has enabled (forced?) may companies to implement "work from home" procedures that allow employees to, well, work from home. For some companies, this was a small change, as they already had procedures and infrastructure in place to allow employees to work from remote locations. For other companies, it was a big change.

As various parts of the country rescind the "stay at home" orders, companies are free to resume work as normal. It is my position that, instead of simply requiring employees to report to the office as before, companies (and their managers) think about what is best for the company.

Companies now have experience with remote work. In the past, one reason to stay with "work at the office" (the traditional arrangement of everyone working in a single office) was that managers could not be sure that "work from home" (or, more generally, "work from anywhere") would work for the company. The lack of experience made such a change risky. That excuse is no longer valid. Companies now have several weeks of experience with remote work.

But I am not suggesting that companies blindly adopt "work from home" for all employees. Nor I am suggesting that companies abandon remote work and require employees to work in the office.

Instead, I recommend that managers review the performance of the past few weeks, identify the strengths and weaknesses of remote work, and agree on a plan for the future. Some companies may be happy with remote work and decide to continue with it. Other companies may revert to "work at the office". A third group will choose a middle ground, with some employees remote and others in the office, or remote work for a portion of the week.

I am sure that managers are aware of the costs of maintaining an office building, and will view the path of remote work as a way to reduce those costs. Remote work also allows for expansion of the workforce without a corresponding expansion (and cost) of office space.

"Work in the office" on the other hand allows for all work to be done in a single location, which may make it easier to interact with people. Face-to-face communication is more effective than e-mail, voice phone, and video calls. A single office building also keeps the IT infrastructure in one place, with no need (or cost) for remote access and the accompanying security.

The 2020 pandemic and quarantine gave us information about remote work. It would be foolish for managers to ignore that information when deciding how to run their company.