Episode #484: Remote Work Going Forward

Some company polices toward remote work are let a hundred flowers bloom, a thousand schools contend. Others are saying get back in the office right now or leave. This issue is certainly contentious and there seems to be a preference for Japanese leaders to have their staff under their direct gaze. What is driving that desire? Is it that the bosses can’t manage a remote workforce? Is it that they don’t trust people to do their work under their own accountability? Is it because they have seen a drop off in productivity? Or is it because Japan doesn't like too much change and clings to the known, over the unknown?

There are certainly big bucks tied up in real estate costs, especially here in Tokyo. I can easily imagine companies looking at that expense in their P&L and thinking we could really hack into that cost and use the money somewhere else more productively. For the first time ever, my landlord didn’t increase my rent at lease agreement renewal time. They must be really hurting to agree to no increase, because normally they are merciless. I drive around the middle of Tokyo and I look at all of these new skyscrapers being completed and I ask myself, “where are the tenants going to come from?”. I interpret all of this to mean there will continue to be a lot of pressure on landlords into the future and hopefully will assist me in my rent negotiations.

I recently completed my performance reviews with my staff and took the opportunity to ask them about remote work and what they wanted to do. Nobody said they want to go back to working five days a week in the office and the preference range was from zero to three days a week. Why would I need them for five days a week? Salespeople were never required to be in the office every day prior to Covid. I always told them I expected them to be in the buyer’s office not ours. As Covid relents, we will probably have a combination of buyer face to face meetings and face to screen meetings as the medium for sales.

The training team should be training people, so they will either be doing that online, in the client’s quarters or in our training rooms. Their schedules will enable them to work out for themselves where they need to be. The marketing team can do everything they need to do remotely for the most part. The one issue is with no face time with anyone in the organisation, it may not be the best idea for them from a teamwork point of view. Marketing and sales need to work well together, so there will no doubt need to be some regular interaction in person. Does that need to be five days a week? I wouldn’t think that was the case. The Admin team, out of everyone, probably should be in the office every day. We need the face of the company to be there for visitors and for picking up deliveries. Our training rooms are right next to the office, so they also need to keep an eye in them as well, making sure they are ship shape and ready to go for our clients.

What about me? As the President do I need to be there every day? I used to be there five days a week and now I am almost exclusively at home. Do I need to lead the charge back into the office? I think my wife would be happier, if I wasn’t hanging around at home crimping her style. The interesting thing is like most people, I have changed my lifestyle over these last couple of years. I don’t lead a nine to six life anymore. The day has been fudged, where I will work early and work late, fitting in exercise where it is doable. I think I am actually working much longer hours than before Covid and I think this is the experience of a lot of people. I find I get into a routine and it is not that easy to break it. I am sure no one is missing the morning commute to work on packed Tokyo trains. Flex time may be one of the additions to make going back into the office a bit easier, so that the rush hour can be circumvented. Why do we need to start at 9.00am?

Teamwork is always the concern for the leader. Are we able to sustain good teamwork with very little in person activity? Have we seen a drop off in teamwork over these last few years? I would say no, but is that a guarantee that is how things will work out as we move beyond Covid? What if my competitors are doing better with their teamwork and productivity, because they went back to the office? If it is everyone back to the office five days a week, will staff depart to join competitors who don’t require it? Will flexible companies win over inflexible organisations? What happens when we all start adding in new people?

We had a very strong culture build before Covid and we kept it going by just moving it online. Every day we do the Daily Dale and go through our Vision, Mission, Values etc., – in short we focus on the WHY. It takes about fifteen minutes and we didn’t get everyone attending when we were all in the office before, so the online attendance is about the same. Can this strong culture keep going or do we need to strengthen it further, by getting together more often? We have been doing All Hands Meetings every month to provide an opportunity for the team to meet each other face to face again and it has been very successful.

My conclusion is I have no idea what we should do. How about that for decisive leadership! We are not quite out of Covid just yet, but we are getting very close. When the numbers come right down, we will have a situation where it is safer to return to the office and that is when some determinations will need to be made. What I do know is that this is a sensitive issue, which must be carefully considered and flexibility is an absolute necessity. In the meantime, the hundred flowers are continuing to bloom.