遠程辦公和重返辦公室辦公討論的分歧似乎每周都在擴大。在這一點上,鴻溝如此之大,以至于許多敘事和談話要點都在中間丟失了。
最近,人們的注意力轉向了難以捉摸的遠程工作者。公司領導認為員工居家辦公的效率并不高——不管“生產力”在他們腦海中的真正含義是什么。微軟公司(Microsoft)最近的一項調查發現,盡管絕大多數的老板質疑員工居家辦公的工作量是否足夠飽和,但實際上勞動生產率可能比新冠疫情前更高。
讓經營公司的人相信這一點,確實很難。遠程工作人員一直是公司關注的焦點,以至于老板們已經開始跟蹤員工數據,例如敲鍵盤的次數,以衡量員工的工作效率。
微軟公司的現代工作副總裁賈里德·斯帕塔羅在為《財富》雜志撰寫的文章中寫道:“我們把這種現象稱為生產力偏執狂:領導者擔心自己的員工工作量不飽和,而許多員工的工作量卻比以往任何時候都多。”
因此,讓我們暫時從這個1984年式的裂縫中爬出來,因為這一切都指向了一家公司似乎一直在兜售的說法:抵制重返辦公室工作命令的員工只是想把辦公室換成起居室、廚房桌子和第二臥室,在那里他們可以無聊地打發時光,安靜辭職,然后敷衍了事。
但這種說法是錯誤的;即大多數人不想全職遠程辦公。老板們對他們在自己腦海中創造的趨勢感到恐慌。
斯坦福大學(Stanford University)的教授尼克·布盧姆和WFH Research的數據顯示,平均而言,只有31%的員工希望完全遠程辦公。對于年輕員工想永遠居家辦公的擔憂是完全沒有必要的。20歲至29歲的員工最不喜歡完全遠程辦公,只有24%的人更喜歡完全遠程辦公。布盧姆把這歸因于他們對面對面指導和社交的需求。30歲至39歲的員工是下一梯隊,29%的人更喜歡全職遠程工作,而且隨著員工年齡的增長,這一比例呈上升趨勢。
對員工來說,靈活性是最重要的。自從新冠疫情爆發以來,重返工作崗位只是人們一閃而過的想法。正如布盧姆所說,他們更喜歡在適合自己的情況下,每周去辦公室兩到三次的自由。
我自己則傾向于周一和周五待在家里,然后讓Outlook日歷決定我周二、周三和周四在辦公室的實際工作時間。我的情況就是大家的基本情況,因為如今,很多員工都是這樣做的。
老板們似乎反對這樣一種觀點,即工作可能不會恢復到2019年的水平。很明顯,我們需要重新思考未來的工作是什么樣子的,以及實體辦公室的作用——或者僅僅是開會的地方。
譯者:中慧言-王芳
遠程辦公和重返辦公室辦公討論的分歧似乎每周都在擴大。在這一點上,鴻溝如此之大,以至于許多敘事和談話要點都在中間丟失了。
最近,人們的注意力轉向了難以捉摸的遠程工作者。公司領導認為員工居家辦公的效率并不高——不管“生產力”在他們腦海中的真正含義是什么。微軟公司(Microsoft)最近的一項調查發現,盡管絕大多數的老板質疑員工居家辦公的工作量是否足夠飽和,但實際上勞動生產率可能比新冠疫情前更高。
讓經營公司的人相信這一點,確實很難。遠程工作人員一直是公司關注的焦點,以至于老板們已經開始跟蹤員工數據,例如敲鍵盤的次數,以衡量員工的工作效率。
微軟公司的現代工作副總裁賈里德·斯帕塔羅在為《財富》雜志撰寫的文章中寫道:“我們把這種現象稱為生產力偏執狂:領導者擔心自己的員工工作量不飽和,而許多員工的工作量卻比以往任何時候都多。”
因此,讓我們暫時從這個1984年式的裂縫中爬出來,因為這一切都指向了一家公司似乎一直在兜售的說法:抵制重返辦公室工作命令的員工只是想把辦公室換成起居室、廚房桌子和第二臥室,在那里他們可以無聊地打發時光,安靜辭職,然后敷衍了事。
但這種說法是錯誤的;即大多數人不想全職遠程辦公。老板們對他們在自己腦海中創造的趨勢感到恐慌。
斯坦福大學(Stanford University)的教授尼克·布盧姆和WFH Research的數據顯示,平均而言,只有31%的員工希望完全遠程辦公。對于年輕員工想永遠居家辦公的擔憂是完全沒有必要的。20歲至29歲的員工最不喜歡完全遠程辦公,只有24%的人更喜歡完全遠程辦公。布盧姆把這歸因于他們對面對面指導和社交的需求。30歲至39歲的員工是下一梯隊,29%的人更喜歡全職遠程工作,而且隨著員工年齡的增長,這一比例呈上升趨勢。
對員工來說,靈活性是最重要的。自從新冠疫情爆發以來,重返工作崗位只是人們一閃而過的想法。正如布盧姆所說,他們更喜歡在適合自己的情況下,每周去辦公室兩到三次的自由。
我自己則傾向于周一和周五待在家里,然后讓Outlook日歷決定我周二、周三和周四在辦公室的實際工作時間。我的情況就是大家的基本情況,因為如今,很多員工都是這樣做的。
老板們似乎反對這樣一種觀點,即工作可能不會恢復到2019年的水平。很明顯,我們需要重新思考未來的工作是什么樣子的,以及實體辦公室的作用——或者僅僅是開會的地方。
譯者:中慧言-王芳
The fissure in remote work and return to office discourse seems to grow week-to-week. The chasm is so wide at this point that so many narratives and talking points are lost in the middle.
Lately, attention has turned to the elusive remote worker. Company leaders don’t think workers are productive enough when working from home—whatever “productivity” really means in their heads. A recent Microsoft survey found that despite a vast majority of bosses questioning whether workers were doing enough at home, productivity might actually be higher than it was pre-pandemic.
Good luck convincing the people running companies of that. Remote workers have remained in company crosshairs to the point that bosses have begun tracking employee data such as key strokes to measure of how productivity people are.
“We call this productivity paranoia: Leaders are worried their people aren’t working enough, while many employees are working more than ever,” Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of modern work, wrote for?Fortune.
So let’s attempt to crawl out of this 1984-esque fissure for a moment, because this is all pointing to a narrative companies seem to have been peddling: That workers pushing back against return-to-office mandates simply want to trade in offices for their living rooms, kitchen tables, and second bedrooms where they can twiddle their thumbs, quiet quit, and phone it in.
But that narrative is false; most people don’t want to work remotely full-time. Bosses are panicking over a trend they’re creating in their own heads.
On average, only 31% of workers are vying to be fully remote, according to data from Stanford professor Nick Bloom and WFH Research. And the fear around young employees wanting to work from home forever couldn’t be more misplaced. Workers age 20-29 are the least likely to prefer working fully remote, at 24%. Bloom attributes this to their need for in-person mentoring and socializing. Those age 30-39 are the next tier up, with 29% preferring fully-remote work, and it trends upward as workers’ age increases.
What has remained true is that flexibility is a top priority for workers. That's been the case since the idea of returning to work was a twinkle in the pandemic's eyes. As Bloom says, they prefer to have the freedom to go to offices two or three times a week when it suits them.
I myself tend to stay home Monday and Friday and then let my Outlook calendar dictate how much I'm physically in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'm pretty basic, because that's the case for a lot of workers today.
Bosses seem to be butting up against the idea that work likely won't return to what it looked like in 2019. What's clear is that we need to rethink in what the future of work looks like and what role the physical office—or simply meeting place—plays.