If You Can Do Your Job From Home, Be Scared. Be Very Scared.

Put on a shirt and get into the office.

Remote Work is a polarizing topic.

Recently someone asked me, "Why aren't you afraid to talk about remote work?" My response was simple, "Becuase I'm not a coward."

It seems that most people added Remote Work to a long list of topics that no one should discuss at work. Topics like Religion, Politics, Sports, Donald Trump, Medical Issues, etc. However, Medium is not your office, so let's discuss it.

Most people know that remote work is a horrible idea for big organizations, but they are afraid to criticize Remote Work because they don't want others to think they are out of touch with the needs of their employees. Others are afraid to be viewed as hostile figures who want to create tension with employees or be perceived as a manager who doesn't trust their employees. So, employers stay silent, and now everyone thinks remote work is the best business idea of the last 200 years.

These people are wrong because they rely on personal anecdotes to defend the benefit of remote work. They say they are more productive at home, with fewer distractions and more time for daily personal chores.

Let me dismantle the first claim. Only a little data proves that working from home is more productive. My son was sick last week, so I reserved a virtual appointment instead of going to the doctor's office because he needed a new prescription. However, the doctor couldn't prescribe medicine virtually and wanted me to visit the office. I did go the next day, but had I known earlier, I would get a regular appointment without wasting my time on a virtual appointment. It seems that most doctors don't like to prescribe medicine virtually, and rightly so.

I also needed to change my carpet at home, so I called the carpet company, but the owner said our estimator works from home. So, he wanted me to measure the carpet and send him the measurement so he could quote me the price. So, I was in the living room with a measuring tape measuring carpet to get an estimate. When I sent the company the measurement, the owner said, we will bring more carpet just in case you made a mistake measuring. I wanted to save time, carpet, and money, so I called a different company.

I know what you are thinking right now. These are personal anecdotes, and I agree with you, so most data claims that remote work is better without any real evidence. If remote work was better, why are all companies relying on remote workers laying off people?

Let's look at the data.

In 2023, more than 170,611 employees were laid off by tech companies, and 164,411 were laid off in 2022. Most of these employees worked remotely.

Richard Baldwin is correct, "If You Can Do Your Job From Home, Be Scared. Be Very Scared." Before you discredit Mr. Baldwin, you should know that he is an economics professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, and he understands the economy and the future of work more than most people out there.

Baldwin believes that if workers want to work from home, they need to be able to compete with workers in different countries who are willing to work for less money, do more work, and bring more value to the marketplace. He calls this phenomenon "Telemigration." Companies are finally realizing that if a job can be done from home, it can be done in a different country for 10% of the cost, and that's why Baldwin says if you can do your job from home, most likely you will have to compete with employees in different countries, and most of you are not ready to make 10% of your current salaries.

I know that you think that hiring workers from faraway countries poses real challenges, such as language and cultural differences, education level, and team integration. However, companies are willing to deal with these challenges as long as they can save 90% of the cost of hiring someone locally in San Francisco.

Put on a shirt and get into the office.

Scott Galloway, a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, agrees that working from home is dangerous, especially for young workers, "Offices are where young professionals establish relationships with mentors, colleagues, and mates. So, in sum: Put on a shirt and get into the office."

Galloway adds, if you are young and ambitious, get to the office. But, even if you are productive at home, you will only be promoted if you learn how to build relationships with your supervisors and clients, and if you don't like this fact, the corporate world is not for you.

He cites a good study that found "that people who work from home are 38% less likely to receive a bonus. There are usually several people qualified for each promotion. The job will typically go to the person with the best relationship with the decider. And relationships are a function of proximity. If this sounds unfair and just bullshit, Facetime… trust your instincts. The corporate world and small injustices will be synonyms for a long time."

It's not in your best interest to work at home.

If you don't agree with Galloway, what about Malcolm Gladwell, one of the most successful authors of the last 100 years believes that it is not in your best interest to work from home, it is okay.

When remote employees criticized him, he doubled down, saying "offices really matter" for employees who engage in "collaborative, creative work." Sarah Hatch, Content Director for MeetingsNet, believes that Gladwell is correct. She says if you want people to be more creative, "bring them together for an in-person brainstorming discussion rather than a virtual one."

There are a lot of studies that prove that face-to-face companies are more creative, but you are not interested in reading these studies because you rather rely on personal anecdotes.

Ryan Jenkins, the Wall Street Journal bestselling leadership author, also says that Gladwell is correct, "I can confidently say that, as someone who has spent over three years researching connections at work. No research shows that our social connections improve while working in virtual environments. This alone should cause us to pause and be much more thoughtful about how we approach work moving forward."

Many people are unwilling to sit down and consider the negative side effect of remote work.

This is what I know:

1. Most people don't like going to the office because they work in horrible organizations, and they should find better jobs. No one deserves to work for terrible organizations and awful managers. So if you are one of them, find another job.
2. Flexibility is important, and most organizations should adopt a hybrid model where people have the flexibility and autonomy of splitting their time between working from home and going to the office.
3. Organizations should develop better policies for remote work and create a system that clarifies how their promotion works.
4. You should understand this fact: most decision-makers promote people who they know, like, and trust, and if you don't like that, don't work for other people, start your own business. When you do, you will promote people you know, like, and trust. So, instead of improving the system, you become the system.
5. Working from home only works if you work for a manager who respects you and has clear boundaries.
6. No company can create a healthy culture by allowing employees to work 100% remotely. If healthy culture is not important to you, it is okay. However, if managers don't respect your time, and cross their boundaries, don't blame them. Instead, blame the toxic culture of that company. After all, you agreed that healthy culture is not important to you.
7. If your company let you go in an email, don't be mad. Real relationships don't exist virtually; remote employees are just a number.

I can add 15 more reasons, but I need to stop.

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