Are you “entitled” to work remotely?

A highly topical subject currently with many opinions and perspectives, but I think there is one key point often overlooked.

I often hear:

From the employee who prefers remote work
1. Gives me work life balance
2. Allows me to drop my children to school
3. I don’t have to sit in traffic, which saves me stress
4. I save 2 hours per day commuting
5. Since COVID, I chose a gym/doctor/service near my home so I can get there before/after work
6. I still see my team and we have regular meetings, it’s no difference
7. No one else is in the office
8. Doesn’t affect my productivity

From the employer who prefers the team to work on site
1. I miss the impulse chats with the team
2. The office has less atmosphere
3. Relationships are weakened, I don’t know my team as well
4. Productivity may be higher for some, but I don’t know how people “feel” about their work
5. I miss the problem-solving teamwork
6. It’s harder for those extroverts in my team who love the “buzz” of a busy office
7. We’ve lost the social element; new people arrive and don’t meet the team which has a negative impact on culture

All the above have relevance and their place. Entitled is a strong word to use in the title and I chose it specifically because the one key point which is often overlooked is, “whether you can do your job effectively without building face to face relationships”?

In some cases, you can, but in leadership roles I question the ability to develop trust and strong communication across teams when everyone is 100% working remotely.

What’s the solution?
Hybrid working with agreed days together on site, not when everyone is at their desk on online video meetings. And strong, powerful leadership purposely bringing the team together to embed positive culture and work collaboratively to achieve business strategy. It is well recognised that building relationships in the workplace enables collaboration, encourages effective problem solving and makes difficult conversations easier.