We are back with the weekly pulse on hybrid work adoption. In today’s post, we share news and opinions that dive deeper into the challenges of hybrid work – anxiety remote employees feel compared to in-person teams, lack of room for spontaneous interactions in online communication, and others.
Here are the key stories of the week:
- A new survey suggests that employees go to offices 1.5 days a week on average
- Remote work is reshaping American downtowns
- CEO of JP Morgan spoke against remote work
- Employers are taking productivity tracking too far
This hybrid work news digest is created by oVice – a platform that uses technology to solve remote and hybrid work challenges. We help team leaders set up custom virtual office spaces where they can spontaneously connect with employees as if they were working in person.
Hybrid work news
1. Workers go into office 1.5 days a week, survey suggests | BBC
According to a survey published by the Advanced Workplace Associates consultancy, on average, employees go to the office 1.5 days a week. On Fridays, office attendance is the lowest – 13%.
2. The remote work revolution is already reshaping America | The Washington Post
Since the height of the pandemic in 2020, there has been a decrease in remote work adoption. At the peak of COVID, two-thirds of Americans worked from home – now, only about 30% do so. Nevertheless, compared to the pre-pandemic workplace, hybrid and remote arrangements are on the rise – likely, permanently so.
3. Singapore Workers Spurn Jobs That Don’t Offer Hybrid Work Option | Bloomberg
Although North America and Europe are seen as key remote work adoption hubs, there’s an increase in remote work demand in APAC. Survey data from Singapore shows that 40% of job-seekers would not accept a job offer that doesn’t offer WFH opportunities or flexible hours.
4. JP Morgan CEO: “Remote work damages diversity” | Unleash
As the CEO of a company committed to hybrid work, Jamie Dimon has firsthand experience in dealing with its highs and lows. In his latest statement, he drew attention to a few challenges of the hybrid model: difficulty to set up apprenticeship programs and “no room for spontaneous stuff”.
Opinions
1. A new work anxiety: will I be penalized for working from home? | NPR
It’s been no secret that a growing number of CEOs see remote work as inferior to working in person. Even though many companies offer hybrid work out of the need to appeal to employees, new hires feel anxious about feeling left out and getting fired faster than in-office peers.
2. Why hybrid work supports the mental well-being of employees | Salesforce
Improving health and employee well-being is one of the most prominent benefits of hybrid work. That’s why supporting hybrid arrangements may be a more effective investment in retention that employee benefits and office perks.
3. Bosses giving up the return-to-office fight have found another way to win: Tracking their remote workers’ every move | Fortune
A few weeks ago, New York Times blew the whistle on digital productivity tracking showing that most remote companies – JP Morgan, Barclays Bank, and many more – track their workforce. A new article from Fortune examines the implications and efficiencies of rigorous employee monitoring.
4. As remote work endures downtowns are adapting | Bloomberg
New statistics show that, even though Americans are coming back to offices, office occupancy in downtowns isn’t anywhere near its pre-pandemic level. This might sound like bad news for office-centered downtowns but they are successfully readapting to the new normal.
Tips
1. Keeping hybrid employees engaged | Harvard Business Review
“Soft work”, “management by wandering”, and “bouncing ideas off of each other” are the concepts that are challenging to replicate in a hybrid workplace. Keeping remote teams engaged alongside the on-site team is a challenge managers need to learn to navigate.
2. Securing the ever-evolving hybrid work environment | CIO
At the moment, there’s little doubt about the long-term persistence of remote work. That’s why IT and security teams need to make major infrastructure shifts to secure sensitive data and safeguard against threats – such as moving from wide-area networks to zero trust network access.
3. 3 reminders for managers in a hybrid work environment | MIT Management Sloan School
Hybrid work adds new layers of management complexity especially when it comes to employee onboarding and engagement. MIT Sloan researchers share their data-backed practices hybrid managers should follow to support teams in navigating the new model.
4. 15 best tools for hybrid teams to crush it in 2022 | Krisp
Innovative technology is at the center of a high-performance hybrid workplace. Find out which collaboration and project management tools your team is missing out on and update your hybrid work tech stack.
Stay updated on the latest hybrid work news by following our weekly digest. You can also follow oVice on social media to see all the updates we share.
To learn more about virtual office solutions, explore our case studies or visit the oVice demo space.
