Work from Home, Work from Work or a bit of both?

2023 has been the year when firms have had to get to grips with hybrid working and decide who and how often they can carry on working flexibly.  To make this really effective, there’s more to think about than just the number of days you have to be in the office.  It’s important to think about what work is done, where and how teams work together and collaborate.

Three years ago, we all had to work remotely.  Some of us hated it, some of us loved it, but we had no choice but to make it successful.  We got very used to it, so much so that many of us now assume that flexible working, being able to work from home, is the norm.  A right not a privilege, perhaps.

This seems to be particularly true of the younger generation.  It’s said that generation Z (born after 1995) expects to be offered flexible working when applying for a role. In the current recruitment market, those firms insisting on ‘work from work’ may find themselves missing out on talent.

Working from home certainly has many upsides.  No time wasted commuting, fewer distractions mean that people have more opportunity to focus and hence get more done.

But there are also significant downsides.  There’s less opportunity for collaboration; team members don’t get to know each other as well, perhaps only connecting at a superficial level which has implications for conflict resolution.  And the impact on learning and development in the profession has been profound.  In an FRC commissioned report into Audit Firm Culture, it was noted that frequent and direct communication between the most senior and most junior auditors was seen as crucial to the effectiveness of coaching junior staff.  And as they progressed ‘learning by osmosis’ was important.

It appears that the very generation who are most likely to demand the opportunity to work from home are those most likely to lose out as a result.

Most firms are going for a hybrid approach at the least.  Perhaps two or three days in the office, two or three days at home.  Some are insisting that the more junior grades do, in fact, come into the office every day.  This will be beneficial only, though, if there are sufficient experienced staff in the office at the same time.  This requires careful planning – teams need to decide together which days are office days and which can be home days. 

It’s also important to plan the type of work that gets done too, and how teams work and communicate.

Some firms are finding that, even when they are in the office, junior staff, in particular, are primarily communicating digitally rather than face to face!  It appears that the tendency to always email rather than speak on the phone has been exacerbated due to the pandemic and some staff lack the confidence to speak face to face or on the phone, and this hampers their ability to deal with colleagues and clients.

The good news is that there’s now quite a bit of research around the different types of virtual communication, what is effective and when, and that can help us to be smart about how we work.

Face to face communication, whether in person or through a screen, is ‘rich’.  This means we don’t just rely on the words to get the message across, we give and receive contextual cues such as gestures, pitch and tone of voice, facial expressions, body language and so on.  The opposite, ‘lean’ communication relies on words only.

Something else to consider is the timescale.  Synchronous communication is when the interaction is simultaneous; asynchronous communication is where there is a lag between the message being sent and being received.  So, a phone call is synchronous, a voicemail is asynchronous, as are emails and instant messages.

There are pros and cons of each and, interestingly, they might not always be what you’d expect.  For example, the research found that our empathy is higher when we speak on the phone, compared to a face to face meeting.  Virtual collaboration was found to be most effective when cameras were turned off and audio and screen sharing was used. 

Have a look at the table below that summarises the research.

The research found that most people, whether virtually or in person, switch between two extremes – rich and synchronous (face to face) or lean and asynchronous (email) and are less likely to consider the other options such as picking up the phone or leaving a voice note. 

The research is also handy to have in your mind when you are planning when and where work is completed.  This needs to include the work of training and developing junior staff.  The FRC’s firm culture report found that, across all grades, depleting the opportunity for ad hoc and informal interactions where hybrid working has not been properly embedded had a significant impact on development.

Creating the right rich and synchronous opportunities for juniors to listen in and be party to the work of their superiors in the firm is key.  Making sure they realise how much it benefits them and the learning they will receive, and accordingly become more effective more quicky.  It’s a strong sell to those who are reluctant to spend time in the office.