WHAT’S TRENDING. What’s wrong with remote work?

Four years ago Marissa Meyer decreed Yahoo employees could no longer work from home. This year, it is IBM CMO Michelle Peluso’s turn to tell her 2,600-people-strong marketing department that there will be no more telecommuting. Other adopters of this hardline approach include one of Silicon Valley’s greatest success story – Google.

IBM’s decision is shocking, however, as it was the pioneer of remote work. Big Blue allowed employees to work from home way back in the ’80s, when the technology to telecommute was not so great. In today’s hyper-connected world when everyone is just a voice, text or video call away and the millennial culture is to work from anywhere, it does seem counter-intuitive. Especially as studies have shown that administrative costs for a company do lessen (by as much as 15 per cent), and it has a direct bearing on productivity as well as happiness (no commuting stress, more time for hobbies).

But IBM’s explanation, in Peluso’s words, is: “There is something about a team being more powerful, more impactful, more creative, and frankly hopefully having more fun when they are shoulder to shoulder.”

This raises a few questions.

Is innovation and creativity really linked to close collaboration?

“Yes and no,” says Saundarya Rajesh, founder & President of Avatar Group, which runs a talent strategy consulting firm as well as a flexible working platform for women.

“Yes, because a product requires the full complement of thought capital from diverse individuals to pass through the various stages that take it to market,” she explains. “And no, because in many cases, innovation is largely an individual process – at this stage, collaboration might actually be counter-productive,” says Rajesh.

She believes that the initial processes do not really warrant close collaboration. “However, closer to the go-to-market stage an innovation has to be weathered to meet customer expectations which requires the team work that IBM speaks of,” she says.

What does a creative industry such as advertising think about this? Manish Bhatt, Founder-Director of Scarecrow Communications, says, “It’s true that in today’s world you can use Skype, chat, but when a lot of people are involved in the creative process, brainstorming together is required.”

Having said that, Bhatt describes how he has worked on projects remotely. “When I directed my film in New York, I got the music and complete voiceover from India. Everything was recorded there and we collaborated through chat. In future, if it is a simple film, I have decided I will not even travel to the location – simply get it shot,” he says. And yet, he insists, for agency work, remote working is not a good idea.

Even Dhanabalan RK, Vice President – Human Resources of Maveric Systems, which has a need-based and fairly lenient work from home (WFH) policy, says he sees merit in the IBM argument. “In businesses where employees work in teams, sharing a location builds camaraderie, innovation, and cooperation, which are essential to individual and team success,” he says.

So is remote work now going to be under threat?

It all depends on what the policy is for. The three biggest reasons for companies to introduce WFH are to do with work-life integration, attracting key talent, and driving cost efficiencies. Says Rajesh, “Over 66 per cent of remote workers in IT/ITES companies (according to a 2008 TCS study) are women, not because they become more productive, but because their work-life situation requires it and a company allows it, with the express condition that once the “critical stage” of the employee work-life passes, he or she can come back to work at the office.

As Rajesh points out, there are several gaping breaches in aspects such as accountability, performance measurement and leadership development that flexibility doesn’t fully answer. However, many companies have devised formulas that work.

Hybrid versions of the policy are coming up whereby the employee can work from home only a certain number of days – an approach followed by Maveric.

At Genesys, a customer experience technology firm, managers can fix a suitable policy for their teammates. Michael Katten, Senior Director, Technical Publications and Interim Site Lead – Chennai, Genesys, says that for managers whose employees have meetings with corporateheadquarters late at night, or have independent contributor work, WFH is a valued option.

Others such as Sapient believe constant monitoring is the answer. “We do a periodic dipstick of how the person is doing, the viability of the arrangement and the connection to the organisation,” says Khushnooma Mohan, Senior Manager, People Strategy, Sapient India.

As she sums up, “The value of work from home used judiciously with the right mechanisms, organisational guidelines, manager support, HR assistance and out-of-the box thinking is an unbeatable option.”

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