Remote work myths that are hurting your company

5 misconceptions about hybrid work that may be stunting your company

September 3, 2021 5:30 AM

Hybrid work is here to stay. And it’s not just because employees want it that way.

The delta variant has created a new surge in COVID cases, and businesses are choosing to err on the side of caution. Companies that were previously making in person return-to-work plans have been forced to postpone, meaning that employees will be resuming work in their remote or hybrid settings indefinitely.

And despite proof that the hybrid model works, there are still myths surrounding it that could be potentially harmful to its future success, which Frank Weishaupt, CEO of virtual meeting platform Owl Labs is setting out to debunk.

“‘New normal’ is this wildly overused phrase,” he says. “This is normal. And [companies] have to get comfortable with that.”

Working from home has improved employees’ lives both personally and professionally — 77% of respondents agree that after COVID, being able to work from home would make them happier, according to Owl Labs’ State of Remote Work 2020 report. Twenty-three percent of full-time employees are willing to take a pay cut of more than 10% in order to work from home at least some of the time and half of respondents won’t return to jobs that don’t offer remote work after COVID-19.

“No matter where you sit on this spectrum of needing to be in the office or hybrid [employees] want this flexibility — they've tasted it,” Weishaupt says. “The horse has left the barn.”

In an effort to get ahead of the discourse and dispel some of the rumors, Weishaupt debunked a few common misconceptions surrounding hybrid and remote work:

In-person workers have an unfair advantage over hybrid or remote workers

Coming into the office physically a few times a week — or ever — doesn’t necessarily have to mean more access to resources or a higher employee success rate, according to Weishaupt. As long as employers are providing them with the right tools, hybrid or remote workers logging into work online are

just as capable as in-person employees.

“It’s an important point for technology,” he says. “But independent of what technology you choose, you are going to have to bridge this gap for remote folks who are going to stay remote, either because they're uncomfortable or because they just don't want to go into the office anymore.”

Companies such as Owl Labs are already working toward remedying this problem. Unlike other video conferencing applications such as Zoom and Google Hangout, the software — which runs on the company’s product Meeting Owl Pro — enables speakers in big conference rooms, and even objects like white boards, to become the focal point of the call. This way, remote workers participating from home don’t miss out on important details.

“We're never going to require an employee that doesn't have to be in the office to be in the office,” he says. “Technology is evolving around us so fast and [employers] really need to evaluate all the technology and tools that they have from a remote first perspective.”

Remote work and hybrid work will end after the pandemic ends

Even without the delta variant stunting office reopenings, 80% of employees expected to work from home at least three times a week, according to the report.

“[Employees said] after COVID being able to work from home would make them happier,” Weishaupt says. “Who doesn't love a happy, productive employee?”

Employees have realized that the time spent in the office — or commuting to and from — could be better spent.

“I can give that time back to my family,” says Weishaupt, who used to commute three hours five times a week. “I can give that time back to my work. I can give that time back to my physical and mental health. It makes a huge impact, and I think we all collectively have seen the benefits from that.”

You can’t trust your employees if you can’t see what they’re doing

“You're used to seeing employees in the office for certain hours a day,” Weishaupt says. “But in the end, as an employer, you have to remember that you're hiring people to perform a function. You're not hiring them to watch them work.”

Seventy-five percent said they feel more trusted while working remotely, according to the report. That trust is a critical part of building a healthy workplace culture of accountability.

“Overall, the sentiment from employees is that they actually feel like they're more productive because they're able to balance things better,” Weishaupt says.

Hybrid and remote teams aren’t as creative

Coming together as a team in one place can be valuable — that’s not going to change, according to Weishaupt. But whether employees are contributing from across the board room or from their home office doesn’t take away from the value of their contributions.

“Being able to set aside a few hours with no agenda to be able to brainstorm, I can certainly see the argument that it's important that you are all in person,” he says. “But it just doesn't seem to be the case anymore because of the technology that is available now.”

Seventy-nine percent of remote workers in the U.S. think video conferencing is the same level or even more productive than in-person meetings, the report found. All it takes is a dedicated executive team to ensure that their team members — specifically those working remote — are given the tools to level the playing field.

“It is going to be the responsibility of management and people operations to make sure that they're enabling everybody to be as productive and creative,” Weishaupt says.

Hybrid/Remote employees are less engaged and less productive

This myth may precede the pandemic, but it was one of the first to be debunked.

“We've proven that people are as productive working from home, if not more productive,” Weishaupt says. “The question then becomes whether or not they're less productive when they're in the office five days a week.”

Seventy-five percent of people are the same or more productive during COVID-19 while working from home, the report found. In fact, 1 in 5 people report working more during the pandemic. And although having their home and their office in the same place has made it tough to

balance their work and their life

, the comfort of being at home has also made it easier for employees to focus.

“As a company you have to measure your own performance but you're certainly hearing from employees that they feel more productive,” he says. “And I think that that's because they're happier and they feel more settled.”

Employees’ entire lives are miles from the office, according to Weishaupt. And eliminating that distance has been an enormous driving force toward a more comfortable, productive employee base.

“It's crazy to think that we lived in a world where you couldn't just make all of it work at once,” he says.