The Type Of Home Work We Can All Get Behind

PTR.

The acronym PTR stands for practice, tradition, and requirement in management training. The term is used for those in management to examine their existing policies and understand their intent. It is a way to look at both the minutia and the bigger-picture actions that occur daily. It is a chance for employers to review both long-standing traditions and new initiatives by receiving input from employees as to what their expectations are. It is an opportunity for workers to feel empowered by sharing the whole "I do it because it's always been done this way" and not feel judged for doing so. It is a rare chance to have a two-way dialogue between an employer and employees and to identify instances where certain practices need to be clarified or adapted to meet the current moment. 

For decades, it was common practice for those in the American workforce to work onsite from 9 to 5. Previously, you had a punch card but in recent years you signed in using computer software. Business attire was required. Meetings would begin promptly at 9 AM and everyone would leave promptly at 5 PM. This rigid and predictable daily timeline was frequently the subject of parody in such films as Office Space and television programs such as The Office. You came in, sat down at your cubicle, and proceeded to do your job for 7 hours a day along with an hourlong lunch break. There were weekly staff meetings at certain times. Reports had to be hand-delivered to the boss before the deadline. While there was the occasional outside presentation, the overall day-to-day remained largely the same. Conformity and consistency was the company's way of keeping everyone in line.

But then COVID-19 entered the chat.

This meant that businesses that had done certain things in certain ways for decades now had to figure out a way to do that same work without a physical office space. While certain essential locations like hospitals, police stations, and fire stations remained open, those in traditional office settings had to figure out a way for the work to continue from home. Zoom video conferencing became the new normal. Document-scanning phone apps took the place of office copiers. Everyday employees enrolled in direct deposit rather than receiving a paycheck by hand. Companies did everything they could to keep their doors open even if those physical doors were closed for months on end. At its peak in 2020, roughly 60% of days were worked from home. Today, as vaccines are ubiquitous and children are back in school, the question for employers has become quite simple: should they require their workers to be back in the office full-time, or should they continue to allow them to work from home? 

From a September CNBC article: 

Companies are reluctant to give up their 9-to-5 in-person schedules for “more emotional than intellectual reasons,” says Kaplan.

“The message I hear from executives is, ‘We never intended for the world to change this dramatically and the office to just go away,’” he says. “Then, there’s the popular argument that people are less connected to their company and to their peers without the office, which is bad news for employee engagement and retention.”

In a 2022 Korn Ferry survey of 15,000 global executives, two-thirds agreed that corporate culture accounts for more than 30% of their company’s market value. Many leaders, the report notes, believe that a strong culture can only be established and maintained “if everyone is — at least some of the time — occupying the same workplace.”

CEOs also justify their stance with the belief that workers are more productive in the office. Amazon’s Andy Jassy, for example, told employees that “it’s easier to learn, model, practice and strengthen our culture when we’re in the office together most of the time and surrounded by colleagues.”

Yet research has failed to draw definitive conclusions about remote workers’ productivity. In the U.S., employee productivity rose by 4.4% in 2020 and 2.2% in 2021, before falling in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2023, however, labor productivity rose 3.7% during the second quarter, and is up 1.3% compared to this time last year.

Change, as they say, is never easy. 

Because for decades, employers have simply had their entire workforce onsite simply because that's what has always been done. It was a way to control the workforce by keeping everyone under one roof. They censored employees' computers under the guise of wanting to maintain productivity. They limited break times to create fewer opportunities to talk to those in other departments. They set professional dress codes as a way to establish conformity rather than individuality. It was 40 hours a week where each and every employee was in a monitored environment, one that often stifled creativity and created an atmosphere that was not conducive to maximum productivity. Employers were more than willing to do all this so long it they kept their minions in line as nothing other than cogs in the machine. 

But COVID-19 changed all this. Employees working remotely were equally, and in many cases, more productive than they had been in an office setting. The reasons for this are quite simple when you break it down. There was no hour-long commute time needed so the employee could get extra sleep and/or morning coffee. They could schedule meetings around their schedule which created opportunities for self-care throughout the day. They could save money on childcare by remaining home with a young child during the week. They could schedule routine health exams on their own time rather than leaving the office at midday for an appointment. They could make a full, nutritious meal for lunch rather than relying on unhealthy cafeteria or takeout food. They could even work more flexible hours from home by finishing assignments beyond traditional working hours. Whereas a typical office would conduct business only between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM, remote employees could work earlier or later, depending on how the rest of their day unfolded. 

Historians will eventually write about the legacy of COVID-19. While it was a spectacular failure by the Trump Administration, the Biden-Harris Administration righted the ship and salvaged the 70% of Americans who aren't hopelessly devoid of any critical thinking skills. The record-low unemployment levels have proven that Americans are back to work and they are now in situations like the hybrid work model that have set them up for success for a generation to come. Despite employers clinging to their outdated practices and traditions, nearly 70% of them would like remote work to continue in 2024, ensuring that employees will continue to have opportunities for a better work-life balance. At the end of the day, employers realize that hybrid work is a trend that is not going away any time soon and that there is a new generation of workers who can not only survive but thrive in this type of environment. Long gone are the 40-hour weeks where every single person battles traffic and sits lifelessly in an office cubicle, longing for something better. Hybrid work is here to stay and that, dear friends, is an actual positive that has arisen from the COVID-19 era. 

And it is a practice, requirement, and tradition we ought to maintain moving forward.