On Wednesday last week, Google’s Fiona Cicconi wrote to company employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She announced that Google was bringing forward its timetable of moving people back into the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of 1 September, she said, employees wishing to work from home for more than 14 days would have to apply to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employees were also expected to “live within commuting distance” of offices. No cocktails by the beach with a laptop, then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The intention was very clear. Sure, you can do more flexible working than you did before – but most people will still have to come into the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That thinking seemed to fly in the face of much of what we heard from Silicon Valley executives last year, when they championed the virtues of remote working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey made headlines across the world last May, when he said “Twitter employees can now work from home forever”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was speculated that after Covid, the “new normal” for Silicon Valley might be a workforce heavily geared around remote working, with tech companies needing only minimal staff on-site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s increasingly looking like that’s not going to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Google rejigs remote working as it reopens offices
And if you really look at the statements made by tech bosses, some of the nuances were skirted over by the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, when Mr Dorsey said employees could work at home “forever”, he added, ” if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was a pretty important “if”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in fact, Twitter has clarified that it expects a majority of its staff to spend some time working from home and some time in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pretty much every Silicon Valley tech firm has said that it is now committed to “flexible” or “hybrid” working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem is those terms can mean almost anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is that Fridays off? Or a completely different working relationship with a brick-and-mortar office?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Microsoft envisages “‘working from home part of the time (less than 50%) as standard for most roles” in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a lot of room for manoeuvre in the words “less than 50%”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amazon also issued a statement to employees last week saying: “Our plan is to return to an office-centric culture as our baseline. We believe it enables us to invent, collaborate, and learn together most effectively.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the new work-from-home age, then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of the hesitancy is that although many employees want more flexibility, it’s still not at all clear what kind of model works for the companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“None of us have this all figured out,” said Carolyn Everson, vice-president of Facebook’s global business group, when talking about current work-from-home arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are making this up on the fly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remotely attractive
Harvard Business School professor and remote working advocate Prithwiraj Choudhury says that tech companies have long been at the vanguard of remote working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The early adopters and the companies that are embracing this model and building the organisation around that remote work model will have a huge advantage in attracting talent,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is certainly the hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No tech business wants to lose able employees to rivals who will allow them to work more flexibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Companies like Spotify now appear to have some of the most “flexible” working practices for its staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a recent statement it said: “Our employees will be able to work full time from home, from the office, or a combination of the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The exact mix of home and office work mode is a decision each employee and their manager make together.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it did add: “There are likely to be some adjustments to make along the way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Spotify’s definition of flexible working is very different to Google’s, which in turn is very different to Amazon’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working from home while there is no office open is one thing. But remote working’s biggest test is going to be when the office starts opening up – let’s say at 50% capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When meetings are being held partially in person and partially on Zoom, is the dynamic going to work quite so well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when some team members develop face-to-face, in-person relationships with managers, will remote workers feel disadvantaged?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, IBM announced its proposed system of remote working, with 80% of the workforce working at least three days a week in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When people are remote, I worry about what their career trajectory is going to be,” said IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If they want to become a people manager, if they want to get increasing responsibilities, or if they want to build a culture within their teams, how are we going to do that remotely?” he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tantalisingly, we are about to find out what works and what doesn’t, because there are so many differing approaches being taken by tech companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And like so much of modern day life, other businesses are looking over at the west coast of America to see what’s working here – and what isn’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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