The Case of Remote Workers Returning

In the late winter of 2020 the global economy entered a period of forced transition, upheaval, and disarray as COVID-19 spread around the globe with no regard for national boundaries. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared the spread of the virus a global pandemic.[1] In an effort to slow the spread and spare lives, quarantine measures were put in place with varying degrees of success and severity around the world.[2] As this occurred, businesses of all types were shuttered to the public. In most places, dining, entertainment, and personal services like hair nail salons, which were considered non-essential, were prohibited from opening their stores.[3][4] Many businesses, mostly those employing white-collar workers, did their best to transition to remote work. This practice was facilitated by a rise in new telecommunications technology, the demand for which created affordability and widespread acceptance of their use.[5]

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed through 2020, 2021, and into 2022 there were many attempts, measures, and strategies used to combat the pandemic including vaccines, masking, and social distancing. Some businesses did not survive the turbulent times, others did, and some new forms of business emerged and thrived.[4][5] As the years passed, and with the option of in-person work either prohibited or considered too risky, businesses and workers adapted to remote work.

Though the pandemic forced this remote work on a scale not previously experienced, the practice of telecommuting (i.e., working from remote locations via the use of telecommunications technology) does not originate in the pandemic. As the functionality and affordability of telecommunications technology increased in the 21st century, more and more companies began to expect workers to answer emails, take phone calls, and complete projects whether they were physically in the office or not. This worked for and against the interest of employees in different ways. For some, it provided the freedom to work when and where they wanted without the hassle and extra work of commuting to an office. For others, it was an intrusion into their personal lives and made it difficult, and sometimes nearly impossible, to maintain a healthy distinction between work life and home life. Many employers and employees struck up formal agreements in which they employees were granted permission to work via telecommuting on a full-time (or near full-time) basis. This was desirable for the companies because they were no longer limited to hiring by geographical constraints, and for employees they could live where they preferred to live instead of where their office was located.

However, during the second decade of the 21st century, there was a growing concern that the increase of telecommuting was harming workplace innovation and productivity. Studies emerged showing how telecommuting workers may actually be more productive in the routine nature of their work at home, but that creativity and teamwork decreased to the potential detriment of overall organizational productivity.[6] As a result, many companies such as Yahoo, Best Buy, and Honeywell began to recall telecommuting workers back to the office.[7]

In 2016 Honeywell, Inc. was a $40 billion company focused in the aerospace, building technologies, performance materials and technologies, and safety and productivity solutions. That summer they announced that, in response to market pressures and declining performance, they planned to end their telecommuting practice for all employees whose job did not strictly require it, such as sales teams and field service technicians.[7] Honeywell had already been forced to make layoffs in its aerospace division and many saw the move as an attempt to galvanize organizational productivity in an effort to avoid further layoffs. Some employees shrugged off the move as another shift in corporate strategy and prepared to start commuting back to work. Yet many other employees, who were more comfortable with remote work and had built their life around this practice, voiced strong dissent.[7] Honeywell ultimately moved forward with the proposal. As a result they saw increasing productivity, and concomitant rise in share price, throughout much of 2017, 2018, and 2019.[8] However, like many other businesses, Honeywell was rocked by the economic upheaval during the pandemic and struggled to adjust the paradigm of fully remote work coupled with the other stressors of the early 20s.

In the Spring of 2022, two years after the upheaval of business life as usual, many companies attempted to recall their workforce back to the office. Sufficient time had been afforded for people to receive vaccinations, preventive measures had increased, and companies were incurring costs of owning and operating empty office spaces not utilized by the workforce. Google, Tesla, and Apple all sent out notices to their workforce that a return to in-person in company offices was imminent.[9] Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, emailed his employees with the subject line “Remove work is no longer acceptable” and demanded that Tesla employees return to on-site work or seek employment elsewhere.[9] Apple attempted similar measures for the summer of 2022 but reneged after 1,000+ employees signed an open letter in objection stating: “Stop treating us like school kids who need to be told when to be where and what homework to do.”[9] Similar resistance at Cognizant, a Google contractor, caused the company to push back its June 6 date for in-person work to September 6, 2022. The Cognizant employees had connected with group, Alphabet Workers Union, and signed a petition citing “COVID fears, the costs of commuting amid $5 gas, and the increase in productivity and morale that employees have experienced while working from home.”[9]

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic upheaval it created, have accelerated trends in employee-employer relations that lagged behind social and technological advances. However, the ultimate consequences of an economy and society built predominantly on remote work will not be known for some time. It is possible this shift will be as comparably significant as the move from agricultural to industrial work that took place in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Sources:

Cucinotta, D., Vanelli, M. (March 2020) WHO Declares COVID-19 a PandemicLinks to an external site. Acta Bio Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 91(1), 157, Retrieved on 5/22/22 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32191675/
Livermore, D. (March 2021). “‘Zero Covid’ – an impossible dream”Links to an external site.. Retrieved 5/22/22 from https://www.hartgroup.org/zero-covid-an-impossible-dream/
Ayelet, S. (April, 2021) The pandemic may have caused 200,000 business closures — fewer than expectedLinks to an external site.. Business Insider. Retrieved on 5/22/22 from https://www.businessinsider.com/small-business-closures-pandemic-less-expected-past-year-fed-survey-2021-4?op=1
Singolda, A. (March 2020) Links to an external site.Analysis of 8 billion page views shows where the next hot start-up can thrive.Links to an external site. Retrieved on 5/22/22 from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/12/here-are-the-new-businesses-to-start-during-the-coronavirus-recession.html
Bond, Shannon (March 2021) A Pandemic Winner: How Zoom Beat Tech Giants To Dominate Video Chat.Links to an external site. NPR. Retrieved on 5/22/22 from https://www.npr.org/2021/03/19/978393310/a-pandemic-winner-how-zoom-beat-tech-giants-to-dominate-video-chat
Dutcher, E. G. (2012). Links to an external site.The effects of telecommuting on productivity: An experimental examination. The role of dull and creative tasksLinks to an external site.. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 84(1), 355-363. Retrieved on 5/22/22 from https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.library.unt.edu/science/article/pii/S0167268112000893?via%3Dihub
Links to an external site.DePass, D. (October, 2016) “Links to an external site.Honeywell Ends Telecommuting OptionLinks to an external site.,” Star Tribune. Retrieved on 5/22/22 from http://www.startribune.com/honeywell-ends-telecommuting-option/397929641/
Honeywell International Incorporated.Links to an external site. Retrieved on 5/22/22 from https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/HON
Links to an external site.Hsu, Andrea (June 2022) The idea of working in the office, all day, every day? No thanks, say workersLinks to an external site. Retrieved 6/4/22 from https://www.npr.org/2022/06/05/1102744672/remote-work-from-home-return-to-office-covid-pandemic-workers-apple-google

After reading respond to all the following prompt questions fully, complexly, and in a way that demonstrates strong application of the material provided in course content.

What challenges does remote work face that are less of an obstacle when working in an in-person environment and vice versa? Be sure to explain these in-depth.
How are managers better able to promote certain types of productivity in an in-person work environment (contrasted with remote work)? Provide examples.
As an element of design and structure, what type of culture is created in a remote work organization and how is this different from a culture of in-person work?
Given what you now know about organizational behavior, what recommendation would make to an organization about whether they should use remote work or in-person work as their primary method of operations?
Submission Instructions:
Quality is more important than quantity! Keep it under 1200 words. There is no minimum but if you fail to answer the questions well or fully points will be deducted. You are making a case for your position using concepts and materials from class – this is not you opining about an idea you have.
CITE EVERYTHING! I want to be super clear here. Check out the page on academic writing below but this is super important.
I have compiled a page for you about quality academic writing – check it! Academic Writing
Save the file as LastName.0CS1 (DraderMazza.OCS1).
Save it only as a .doc or .docx and upload it. No PDFs!!

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