The Terrific Telework Transformation

LBI Staff Anna working from home with a cute companion.

If employers weren’t exactly sure how they felt about telework (‘telecommuting’, ‘remote work’, or ‘Work from Home’ if you prefer) before this whole crazy thing started, then the region has performed a stunning and near-unanimous about-face in the nary three months since pandemic pandemonium began in earnest in mid-March. To quantify changing opinions, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC)’s Georgia Commute Options division conducted a series of one-on-one interviews of execs and HR officials representing 13 of the region’s most preeminent employers, in addition to collecting almost 3,000 online surveys of rank and file employees.

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For context: ARC provides free telework consultation to employers throughout the 20-County Atlanta Metropolitan region through your friendly neighborhood Transportation Management Associations (TMAs, of which Livable Buckhead is one) also conducts the annual Regional Commuter Survey.

Of the 13 employers polled, teleworking policies pre-COVID were described thusly:

• 8 – Stated a formal policy was in place, but only available to exercise in rare events (family leave, minor illness, etc) – Some cited “a corporate culture focused on in-person collaboration” or “in-office job requirements”.
• 2 – Allowed remote work for specific departments, exclusive to others – Executives and IT were the departments cited
• 3 – “Most or all” employees were permitted to work from home, although the average frequency was ‘one to two days/week’.

And then when interviewed between April 23rd and May 8th:

• 12 – Said business ops “remained stable” since Shelter in Place was issued in early April, and that most employees had transitioned to working from home.
• 3 – A few orgs said that certain divisions were still performing in-person work, limited to specific job functions involving manufacturing and field work.
• One company estimated that operations had slowed to 60% of pre-pandemic capacity – that business cited their work in R&D and Q&A requires in-person collaboration with their clients, and since clients were working remotely their work cannot be performed.

Open-ended survey questions revealed a few narratives of the transformation; starting with the C-Suite. Previously reluctant execs, cornered by the necessity of change, became more receptive to the change after this initial, forced experience.

“Leadership that was previously resistant to remote work are now more receptive within their  organizations because they have experienced the value proposition for themselves.”

Managers too are seeing unanticipated benefits in telework, like improved communications across previously siloed departments; says the study, “Seven companies mentioned an improvement in collaboration between team members and cross-departmentally.” One biz even mentioned improved productivity, so much so that the company is investigating a “sustained remote work model” plus “a four-day workweek and unlimited vacation benefits”!! (You’ve definitely heard us extol the virtues of Compressed Work Week (CWW) here before.)

“We are actually getting more things done in a shorter period of time. What would normally take someone two to three days to turn around, now takes a day.”

Front-line employees seemed to appreciate the change as well, with non-management employees also citing positive changes in satisfaction with shorter commute times and work/life balance.

Respondents were also asked to prognosticate on the future of work and workplaces; giving responses on their timelines for return to the shared workspace and visions of what the office would look like in the future. “Increased distance between workstations” and “daily interaction with health assessment apps” were mentioned, but as for a firm date on the migration back to the cubicles; most were sure that they weren’t sure, and expressed more than a grain of concern about the folly of rushing back.

“We are committed to the data and not a timeline.”

In my own reading of Georgia Commute Options research, I get the sense that with a little experience under our collective belts, we’ve collectively broken new ground in a revolution of the workplace. Pandemics come and go and when this too passes we can collectively shutter our webcams and log-off our Teamses and our Hangouts, and enjoy the instantaneous satisfaction of a hard day’s work, and being at home.

Because we have evolved beyond the commute and I think -as a society- we’ve earned that.

“… the most positive thing that might come out of this whole experience … is that many of us are actually more productive when working from home and deserve the trust of management. “