C-Suite Blind Spot – The Remote Workforce – Is it Sustainable

Blind Spot

In the June 2020 PwC Workforce Survey update, it was noted that 73% of US executives who shifted almost their entire workforce to remote work due to COVID19 considered it a success. Currently, 55% of executives expect to extend options for most of their office workers to work remotely, up from 39% of companies who did so prior to the pandemic.

One of the questions corporations might consider as they develop their remote workforce strategies is whether “crisis success” is a true measure to gauge and develop long term strategic planning on. Does survival mode success automatically translate into long term

productivity? Will the remote workforce be a universal success?

With the rapid move to adapting to this remote workforce model, executives should consider companies that have attempted to accomplish this in the past, only to later abandon their plans. What went wrong?

Illumination

A New Work Times article noted multiple companies that have experimented with remote workforces over the past ten years. Companies such as Aetna, Bank of America, Best Buy, Yahoo, and Reddit are just a few. Each of these companies ultimately abandoned these plans and called employees back to the traditional office environment.

As recently as 2017, IBM called back thousands of employees to the office amid slumping revenues. At that time 40% of its 386,000 employees in 173 countries worked remotely. Best Buy started a well-publicized remote workforce program in 2004 which was later discontinued in 2013. Then CEO Hubert Joly cited the reason for cancelling the initiative as employees having too much freedom.

A recent study completed in the UK study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) research found that compared to other generations, millennials are experiencing the most difficulty with the transition to a remote workforce. In 2020 millennials make up 35% of the workforce and this is expected to increase to 43.1% by 2025. This group must be thoroughly assessed and monitored in the process of determining the viability for success of the remote workforce adaptation.

Many of my accomplishments have been win or lose situations. For me, second place was not an option. My key to success was to assemble a diverse team of specialized individuals who were experts in their fields. Together, we were able to develop strategies that helped me to identity, address and eliminate my “blind spots”. Executives may want to approach their blind spots similarly. When winning or losing are the only two choices, choose to win.