I received this message in my LinkedIn box, a few weeks ago:
"Thank you for pressing the #WorkFromHome influencing messaging. Many of us out here can't say it and don't react to your posts because we're afraid our companies will see us advocating for something that can be construed as self-interest rather than company interest. Makes us targets if we do. You're blazing the trail for all of us. KEEP IT UP PLEASE”
Pretty cool, eh? I've been remote for just over a decade, outside sales is conducive to working at Starbucks, and parking lots - it was the beginning of work from anywhere. Indeed, I was cold calling businesses, on my Nextel, from the beach in SoCali back in 2003.
Consider this rudimentary timeline:
Data(files) were always at the office; everyone had to be under one roof just to be 'on the same page'
Fax machines allowed us to send copies around the world
Email helped us share bigger documents with prospects and clients
Laptops made us more mobile; I could now bring my files home to work on over the weekend
Pink phone message notes were the standard until numeric and alpha-numeric pagers became the rage
Cell phones replaced pagers
Smartphones let us connect to email from the palm of our hand
Ubiquitous WiFi gave us the ability to conduct online meetings from hotel lobbies and poolsides
Today, with data in the cloud and apps on phones, the CEO can track revenue, sales reps can monitor delivery schedules from the 9th tee or pontoon.
Who wouldn't want to be free to work from anywhere?
Here's why the establishment doesn't want you working from home:
You figured it out, and built office space in your kitchen, second room, or closet, with no guidance from HQ.
You learned Zoom.
You became more 'self-managed.
You weren't considered 'essential'. That high standing was reserved for the antiquated accounting department and even more old-fashioned mailroom.
And now, today, the taskmaster wants to look out upon a sea of workers toiling away in the cotton fields of the 21st century - the cube farm.
Managers hope we don't figure out how obsolete they've become - they fear for their jobs.
The most fearful are in the C-Suite. Those "Killers of Passion" who command their complacent, easily replaceable, and 'loyal' chattel back to the stalls.
It's worse. Upon return to the office, everything you learned and did 'for the company' during Covid is to be forgotten or suppressed - the hierarchical, top-down rules of management must be enforced to maintain order.
They entice and seduce:
Friday is blue jean day.
Group outings to the baseball game.
Free cappuccinos in the luxury kitchen; beer.
Catered breakfasts, corporate BBQs, and Christmas Parties.
401k's, healthcare, and 2.5% yearly pay increases.
Ignore the 45-minute commutes, and missed recitals.
Enjoy the useless, mundane, and mindless 4PM meetings that inevitably and predictably run over by 60 minutes - "this could have been an email."
Don't forget co-worker personalities and hostile environments - HR is not your friend.
"Some simply refuse to schlep back and forth to an office, taking two-plus hours a day commuting into a crowded, dirty and crime-ridden city. Insurance and financial services giant Prudential conducted a study that found “one in three American workers would not want to work for an employer that required them to be onsite full time.” - Forbes
Here's the nasty and silver lining: Covid19 and remote working opened our eyes to bigger possibilities. We can pursue our passions and our passion is not a 9 to 5 prison. Sure, there are great advantages to working for somebody else from anywhere. The big, huge transformation will not be technology-driven, it will be powered by passion your passion, unleashed.
This is a great fear the establishment denies - workers, once unshackled, will move away from the establishment and towards their personal, unique dreams. Maybe that dream is to be the best Events Manager in the industry - why would the best work for one company? Better yet, why wouldn't she work for herself instead of Big Brother?
Fascinating...the possibilities are endless.
Gambling man rolls the dice, working man pays the bill
I’ve been saying for almost 12 months that virtual selling and remote work is the wave of the future. I’ve also predicted that few people will go back to the office to work — which as you know will greatly affect your ability to sell copiers.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’m prepared to say that I was wrong with my prediction on how few people will come back to the office because some major corporations have announced a back-to–the-office policy. Companies like Bank of America, Wells Fargo and T. Rowe Price are announcing policies, and predictably, so are large commercial property firms. Any company with an interest in commercial real estate, office space and financing encourages everyone to come back to the cubicle.
This is counter to what happened over the last 12 months. Revenues for companies that operated during the pandemic went through the roof. Productivity for work-from-home employees increased by double digits. Employees were happier, reconnected with their family, ate fewer cold dinners, and never missed a soccer game.
However, this didn’t bode well for people who make a living renting office space, running parking lots, or selling copiers.
People will be coming back to the office, but does this mean they will be buying more copiers?
