Now that everything is, relatively, back to normal, it’s rather easy to forget where we were just two years ago: restrictions over gatherings, lockdowns, and what have you. Many businesses went bankrupt, and those who could – started implementing the policy of full-time remote work or hybrid work – meaning conducting a rotation between employees arriving at the office and those working from home.
It seems that just as people started adapting to working from home, things got back on course, and the pandemic restrictions were withdrawn one after the other. Subsequently, many business owners started requiring their employees to return to full-time work in the office. If you ask me, that’s not such a great idea.
I, Ofir Bar, am a veteran investor with a special interest in entrepreneurship and startups. I’m well aware that work in the high-tech sector is demanding, and that it requires employees’ commitment and presence in the office. With that said, I argue that hybrid work (nowadays usually meaning the possibility to work from afar at least a day a week) should not be left behind, but rather adopted permanently by any business in which it’s possible. In this post, I’ll explain why.
They DO have a choice
Every business owner, especially startup owners, should keep in mind that although the pandemic is no longer setting the agenda, the competition for high-quality employees is still fierce. Just like business owners can rule out candidates based on a single disadvantage, job seekers also have options.
Nowadays, many high-tech job seekers see the option for remote work as a basic standard for accepting a job: They are likely to rule out job offers based solely on the absence of this ‘perk’. After all, there are many startups that have permanently embedded hybrid work in their policy. So, if you’re entirely against it, don’t expect a long line of candidates outside your doors.
In many cases, working in the high-tech sector, especially in small startups, requires employees to work long hours, and sometimes to even be available after-hours. It’s intense and exhausting. However, hybrid work, in many manners, has helped sweeten this pill. Therefore, from the employee’s perspective, returning to 100% office work is a step back in lifestyle. They probably have already rearranged their life based on hybrid work. Taking that away from them practically means changing their entire weekly routine. In quite a lot of cases, that’s a deal-breaker for them.
Not to mention, if you hired employees during COVID, it’s likely that some of them live quite a long way from the office. These are people who wouldn’t have even considered applying for a position in your company if it hadn’t been for hybrid work options. Forcing them to work from the office every single day of the week, is actually stating that you are firing them. Think about it before you make any hasty moves. Are you willing to lose them?
In addition, working from home means less time spent on commuting, hallway chats, and coffee breaks. It’s true, an employee’s home also offers quite a lot of distractions, but it’s not impossible to keep track of their progress even when they work from afar. It requires some preparation, but I believe it’s well worth the effort.
Allow some flexibility
It’s essential that any startup owner understands that even in the high-tech sector, people want to work in order to live, not the other way around. In quite a lot of cases, especially when speaking of married people (and even more so, married with children), if they feel work is getting in their way of them living their life the way they want to, it’s likely they’ll look for opportunities elsewhere – even if this means earning a bit less.
The very least employers can do to maintain their top-quality human resources is to allow their workers some flexibility and maneuvering space to handle all their commitments – including, for example, being more with their kids at lunchtime.
