Long Live WFH! 4 Arguments for More Remote Work

Many employees at companies around the globe have done more than make arguments for more remote work: They’ve demanded it.

And they might be onto something. In fact, many companies find work from home (WFH) is their competitive advantage.

Still, HR is stuck in the middle of the WFH v. RTO (return to office, that is).

In this HRMorning post, we’ll dig into why WFH is an important part of today’s work world and how to make it better. (Don’t worry, fans of RTO — we cover your arguments in a previous post!)

Why Make Arguments for More Remote Work

“With today’s technology allowing employees to connect with each other and collaborate from anywhere, supporting a remote work environment is easier than ever and can benefit both employees and employers for [many] reasons … including access to a more diverse and expansive talent pool and improvements in productivity and performance,” says Doug Dennerline, CEO at Betterworks.

When we talk about WFH here, we’ll lean more into hybrid work, as opposed to fully remote work. That’s because 52% of employees who can work remotely are hybrid — splitting days between office and home. And 27% are fully remote, Gallup found.

Four reasons to make arguments for more remote work:

• Productivity gains. Working from home jumped five-fold since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. In that time, U.S. productivity growth accelerated, reversing decades of pre-pandemic decline, according to data collected by the American Economic Association. To note: Most economists say there can be other reasons for increased productivity, but WFH has had at least a marginal impact.
• Attrition drops. Employees stick with jobs that make it easier for them to work from home. In some cases, WFH has cut turnover by 33% and boosted job satisfaction, according to a study from The National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Burnout diminishes. Almost 60% of organizations that offer hybrid work opportunities found stress and burnout dropped among employees, another Gallup study found.
• Talent pool rises. Many companies that can and have offered WFH get a larger, more diverse pool of talent when they’re recruiting. “One of the biggest [benefits] is not being limited in the talent we can recruit — since geography isn’t a barrier, and we’ve invested in the right supporting tools and technologies to keep remote teams connected. We can hire the best of the best without being confined geographically,” Dennerline says about his organization.

There are some benefits that are more difficult to quantify when people are empowered to work from home, at least part of the time.

“When people feel trusted to work toward results and have a high level of personal accountability, you see increases in productivity and employee satisfaction. When employees feel enabled to do their best work and feel like their personal well-being is prioritized, you see enhanced employee performance and, in turn, less turnover, more engagement, and ultimately better business results,” says Dennerline. 

Make the Best of WFH

Whether you’re already onboard with remote or hybrid work or are still considering it, you want to make the most of it so employees can succeed and the company can get ahead.

“Implementing an RTO or WFH policy, or something in between, requires a mutual understanding between leaders and employees and an employee-centric outlook,” says Dennerline. “Your ultimate goal should be to set your workforce up for success by providing a work environment that enables them to be productive and drive results. And that might look different for each company and culture.”

So here are four keys for better WFH.

• Create connections. In nearly every study, employees and leaders say that WFH makes it more difficult for people to connect and build relationships. So you have to make extra efforts in those areas. One way: “Implement meaningful meeting starters,” says Laura Putnam, a workplace well-being expert, international public speaker and author of Workplace Wellness That Works. For example, “Kick off a team meeting with the question: Would you say that your work is a job, career or calling? Yes, this is a provocative question, but it is also one that can help people to think about ways that they might make tweaks in how they do their work. Just having this juicy conversation can help to foster more connections within the team.”
• Increase check-ins. Also, to help improve the sense of belonging and inclusion, increase the number of check-ins. “Every manager can set aside time every week to touch base with every team member asking them the simple, two-part question, ‘What are you working on and how can I help?’” says Putnam.
• Find the sweet spot between work/life integration and work/life balance. Help hybrid employees understand and accept either a work/life integration, which calls for no distinction between the two, or work/life balance, which separates the two. Ask bosses to work with employees to uncover what’s best for them. For instance, integrators might prefer to handle email after hours because they’re less stressed and better equipped to tackle them then. Balancers may prefer four, 10-hour days with no overlap on work and life.
• Expect shared responsibility. When working from home, employees should be equally responsible for making hybrid work seamless and effective. You want to hold them accountable for professional development and forging a career path. Remind them to consider their bosses, HR and the time in office as resources for their work and career. However, they’ll need to take equal responsibility to keep moving their needle.

WFH Real-Work Stories

Many companies are pushing ahead with WFH approaches that work. A few examples:  

• OLIPOP CEO Ben Goodwin doesn’t have an office at all, nor do most employees. The company is built on a remote culture and he says it’s benefitted from a flexible and geographically diverse workforce, workplace satisfaction and employee respect.
• Spotify leaves the “where to work” decision up to employees with its Work From Anywhere model. It supports remote, in-person or hybrid options — and even offered to pay for a co-working membership for employees missing the in-person experience.
• Airbnb’s remote-first model gives employees the option to work for up to three months a year from more than 170 different countries worldwide. That’s made possible because the company has rental homes around the world — so it may not be for everyone!