Culture is a central key to the remote work debate

If 2020 was the year remote work went viral, then 2025 was the year of winding it back! The  current USA administration has been on a path to get all  employees, whoever’s remaining after mass firings that is, back into office, endeavoring to terminate other virtual work arrangements as soon as possible, as they don’t believe in productivity of remote work.

A similar policy that was positioned  in Australia was fully back peddled, prior to the last election, Peter Dutton  admitting ‘we’ve made a mistake.’  The  major reversal early in the election campaign just shows you can’t copy-paste the playbook of another and expect it to wash or work.

And the Victorian Government is proposing a new legislation for both public and private sectors that would grant employees a legal right to work from home for at least two days a week reinvigorates the great remote debate.

There is certainly a constant, gradual string of organisations seeking staff to return to office either full time or with significant reduction to remote, work from home, days.

Tabcorp were ordering their people back five days a week as part of a ‘winning culture’ reset. Amazon too, globally, have made the move with CEO, Andy Jassey, making the announcement to employees under the same theme of ‘Strengthening our culture and teams.’

Many tech companies were the first to announce their comfortability with an eternal, ongoing possibility of remote work even post pandemic. In a recent Fortune feature, Microsoft have maintained this stance, albeit keeping the door open, saying they ‘won’t impose a new return mandate unless management concludes that productivity has dropped.’

The ‘Team Anywhere’ approach taken by Atlassian also means their people still get to choose having ‘flexibility in where they work, whether in an office, from home, or a combination of the two. That way Atlassians have more control over supporting their family, personal goals and other priorities.’

Many other tech organisations, like Amazon, are clearly realising benefits in having people back together. Even Zoom, a company whose products specifically address the pains and benefits of remote work, sought to have workers report in at least two days a week.

In Amazon’s case, Jassey posed the question for employees ‘are we set up to invent, collaborate and be connected to each other (and our culture) to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business that we can?’ Answering the rhetorical nature of the question with ‘we think we can do better.’

Clearly, it’s not a random call. There’s data underpinning the decision given he goes on to share ‘the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits.’

Governments too are dancing with the debate and discourse with NSW Premier Chris Minns calling for public servants to ‘work principally in an approved workplace’. The Victorian Government taking the opportunity to poke it’s rival inviting staff who value remote work to perhaps think about moving to Victoria.

Whilst there are many nuances to debate both the pros and cons of remote work, there are three significant ones to consider.

Productivity, or any other tangible measure to evidence the business case, from a corporate bottom line is obvious. HR Leader share insights from a Stanford University study finding hybrid work has zero effect on workers productivity or career investment and it boosted retention rates. Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom concluding ‘the results are clear: hybrid work is a win-win for employee productivity, performance and retention.’

That makes perfect sense. There’s every reason productivity may be maintained even when it’s on one’s own terms as opposed to the typical 9 – 5 in office. Slotting in school drop offs or other personal chores, electing instead to work late, doesn’t mean dropping the corporate ball.

There’s also likely those who struggle to switch off when not leaving a physical office but instead closing a mental, virtual door. Plus any productive time, or frustration, lost to asking colleagues multiple times to ‘unmute’ is likely made up for with greater energy in not having to commute.

Trust is a second major theme. Many CEO’s state the importance of trust being given carte blanche until proven otherwise. Remote work, in addition to the advancement of AI, has raised challenges in some aspects here. There’s a whole underground economy of the ‘overemployed’. People holding two jobs or more. Sometimes due to necessity, a result of the cost of living, yet other times simply because they can.

ABC share a great example of an employee busted, then ultimately let go, for double dipping salaries when a colleague from one of his jobs happened to be on a meeting with his other employer. His managers were ‘absolutely flabbergasted’, given ‘he’d been producing exemplary work’ even with time split with a second company. There are even underground chat rooms, akin to fight club, sharing secrets on how to stack days to make time shifting and commitments work to get ahead. The advancement of automation and AI means all sorts of tools, including basic Chat GPT, allows some of them to plough through as much as 80% of their tasks easily.

Yes it’s important trust is given. It’s also fair to see that given the holistic nature of trust, achieving equity and fairness often requires setting some boundaries. Complete autonomy and freedom, while ideal, unfortunately is exploited or gamified by some.

The third theme comes back to culture, which also relates to human behaviour. Some people may well have thrived amidst the necessity of remote work during the pandemic. Happy to work solo from home, cameras off, barely having to interact with another soul.

Others though would have struggled given their energy is drawn more via interaction with their outside world. Working solo, no colleagues, no ad hoc water cooler conversations, jailed by the same four walls, likely at times killing both spirit and drive. The culture conversation is a valid one. When you join a team, when you turn remote cameras on, when you spend some time in the office, you’re not just doing it for yourself. You’re doing it for your colleagues and collaborators.

Many employees, wishing to maintain the freedoms and flexibility that remote work have unlocked, are clearly unhappy and firmly against any policies demanding a full return to office. They would see such mandates as somewhat archaic or stuck in the past.

There’s something to be said for the obsolete argument. Take the concept of the 8-hour workday itself as an example. Often attributed to reform in the UK amidst the industrial revolution with socialist Robert Owen’s slogan. ‘Eight hours labour. Eight hours recreation. Eight hours rest.’ It was a necessary shift from the 70 plus hours a week often borne by workers prior.

Over time, in Australia, legislation has seen those working week hours gradually shift from circa 50 hours in the mid 1800’s to standard 38 hours a week now. I’m sure many reading this feature will raise their eyebrows wishing they worked within such hours. Sometimes as a result of one’s own work ethic, other times due to priorities or even pressures, along with expectations, at work. Annual leave has also gradually adapted: the one week given in the 1930’s seems stingy compared to the four weeks, or more, we now experience.

The Fairwork commission is investigating whether flexible work arrangements could now also be a legal entitlement, on the back of new laws allowing workers to ignore after hours calls.

The primary reason the world moved to fully remote was reactive (not creative) in nature as response to a global crisis. There are clear, fair benefits in both worlds. The risk of regulating and legislating  puts an additional burden and strain on small businesses too, a significant component of the engine room of the Australian economy.

Until legislation inevitably clarifies the contentious debate, a hybrid compromise, as white papers, corporate culture and human behavioural sense attest, seems the smart, collaborative way to go.

Written by Mark Carter .
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