Hybrid Office is a Trap

I recently commented on all the companies requiring employees to sign an insulting, 'work from home' agreement.

Mistrust, insecurity, and control.

The work-from-home environment is a direct threat to the management and corporate status quo and will be fought, tooth and nail by politicians, mayors, old-school corporate leaders, and middle management.

• Why do we need managers, when there are no employees in the office?  
• How is it that for two years, employees worked at home and their productivity went up?  
• How can employees be efficient and productive without a manager looking over a shoulder or an executive giving a lunchroom speech?

Trap!

In boardrooms across the country, virtual boardrooms, executives are devising ways to entice and force employees back to the fields.  But nothing will work, the die is cast.

They will use Hybrid as a 'compromise' knowing the movement will fail, leading wayward toilers back to the secure, comfortable, office environment.

Then, crank up the 'velvet handcuffs' - couches in the office, windows for everyone, no cubes, etc., etc., etc., and invite everyone back.

Always feed the media narrative pushing in the opposite direction to pull people into the fold.  

Devious.

Three Reasons Hybrid Office Will Fail and Why

Hybrid work models are the best of both worlds. Hybrid work refers to employees returning to the office throughout the week. They may come in every Tuesday and Thursday, choosing to work Monday Wednesday Friday, and work from home Thursday and Friday. This is flexible and great. 

Like always, there is more to the story. For management, hybrid means they keep control because they see their workers face to face. For employees, the ability to work from home, at least, facilitates more freedom, happiness, and greater productivity. 

But there are problems arising from hybrid work environments. 

With 24 months of #WFH and #Hybrid work behind us, data is starting to trickle in revealing some interesting challenges with the practice. More than 80% of workers polled say that hybrid is ‘exhausting’ for employees, according to a TinyPulse survey report. 

Is It Workflow? Or Is It Just a Tool?

DOTC, 2013

Tool: 

“something (as an instrument or apparatus) used in performing an operation or necessary in the practice of a vocation or profession.” – Merriam-Webster. 

Back in the good ol’ days, before MpS, a few smart folks started referring to scanning as the on-ramp to document management. Not a bad way to look at it, and not a bad way to turn an ancillary tool into more than what it is – that's called marketing. It’s akin to selling copiers as “document management engines,” when all they really do is put marks on paper. It’s selling an idea, not the machine. 

Today the new dimension in managed print services – workflow – is undergoing the same marketing treatment. As the rush toward this niche intensifies, intrepid voyagers be aware: 

There is a difference between workflow tools and workflow. I'm not belittling the attempt to get involved in this business or suggesting some sort of “workflow” purity. I bring this up because, unlike managed print services, your prospects and clients have an understanding of workflow and what to expect. They may not formally label it as workflow, but they will recognize the benefits of making a change in the way things have always been done.

If you present scanning software as a workflow solution, you'll end up disappointing everybody, and two years from now, we'll be reading articles about the “false promises of workflow.” It is important to know the difference between a tool and a philosophy, between a pitch and an idea. 

To illustrate further, let’s take a look at some examples: