The pandemic changed everything, especially when it comes to how we work.
Everyone that could work from home did and to the surprise of many productivity didn’t drop – it actually increased…significantly. According to a 2 year study of 800,000 employees, productivity increased by 47%. (source linked below)
Turns out all that time spent commuting and hanging out at the water cooler took your team away from what they could have been doing all along – working.
Fast forward to today where policies are shifting back to pre-pandemic similarities and I’m seeing an interesting dichotomy develop in the industry.
Some firms are choosing to embrace how the world has changed (ever more virtual) and others seem to be clinging to the before times (how it used to be).
It seems the firms that are embracing the changes (made more obvious) by the pandemic are experiencing new benefits – greater productivity, workforce satisfaction, stronger retention you name it. Firms that have embraced workplace flexibility are updating their policies to meet the virtual world head on and benefitting from it.
While the firms that are taking a more traditional approach are now dealing with new challenges…primarily many people don’t want to return to the office full-time.
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Goldman Sach’s CEO David Solomon has been adamant that his employees MUST return to the office or potentially face consequences. Despite the strong direction, when the day came to return…only half showed up. I feel this will likely lead to a significant increase in turnover and other problems for Goldman.
If your firm is taking a more traditional approach, I’d challenge you to think differently. Is there really any part of what your firm does that can’t be done remotely?
If you can get over that hurdle now I’d like you to start thinking about how your firm could stand to benefit from embracing a more flexible model.
PS. Read more about the increase in productivity from remote work, the Goldman return to the office plan success rate and if you want to hear what accountants are saying about these topics right from them checkout the accounting subreddit.
Talk soon,
Sean