Why is the company that convinced us to shop for books online — and subsequently transformed how we buy almost everything else, too — taking a giant step backward when it comes to managing its own workforce?
I’m talking, of course, about Amazon’s decision to bring back the five-days-in-the-office work week. The prevailing theory is that Amazon hopes the unpopular move will cause enough attrition to avoid layoffs. CEO Andy Jassy has framed it in terms of the benefits of in-person work for culture, collaboration, brainstorming and knowledge-sharing.
When it comes to the specifics of e-commerce, I’ll happily defer to Jassy. But workplace culture is another story. Over my 15 years helping hundreds of organizations create dynamic cultures that bring out the best in their people and boost the bottom line, I’ve seen the tradeoffs involved in any workplace configuration. Some are less immediately apparent than others.
Based on my experience, businesses emboldened to follow the lead of the world’s second-largest employer should proceed with caution on where they insist their people spend their days. Such companies may not fully recognize what — and who — they stand to lose.
Workforce diversity
Nearly three-quarters of HR leaders (71%) say remote work has helped their organization hire and retain talent from diverse backgrounds. This is critical whether companies prize diversity as an end in itself or for the bottom-line benefits it generates.
McKinsey has found that certain demographic groups are more likely to say they’d leave their jobs if hybrid work was no longer an option. These include nonbinary employees (18% more likely), Black employees (14%), those with disabilities (14%) and women (10%). And multiple studies show that Black employees report less discrimination and fewer microaggressions in remote environments. As a Los Angeles Times headline summarized this phenomenon, “Remote work gave them a reprieve from racism. They don’t want to go back.”
Across the org chart, return-to-office mandates could throw the gender imbalance even further off-kilter. Research shows that workplace flexibility is a powerful enabler of women’s careers. One study found that without it, 38% of mothers with young children say they’d have to leave their company or reduce their hours. As a mom myself, I know that we are often impacted by overly rigid in-office rules — but we also know that increased flexibility benefits working parents of all genders.
Even if some organizations follow Amazon’s uncharacteristically retrograde example, others won’t — leaving them with plenty of talented women to choose from. But Amazon’s corporate team is already two-thirds male. Can it afford to lose its rising stars? More to the point: Can you?
In some cases, neurodivergent employees may also place a higher value on workplace flexibility. Employees with ADHD often describe the ability to work remotely at least one day a week as a game-changer — allowing them to enter a state of hyperfocus, freed from the distractions of ringing phones and hallway banter. Neurodiversity has been described as “one of the most underutilized assets in developing breakthrough ideas and business strategies.” I couldn’t agree more.
Wellbeing, engagement and productivity
Return-to-office mandates could also erode individual employees’ energy, wellbeing and happiness, which can sour team dynamics and, eventually, organizational culture.
Employees may be less engaged during a workday bookended by commutes (and less than enthusiastic about the financial and climate costs of traveling to the office daily).
A growing body of research shows the link between happiness and job performance. One study found that happy workers are 13% more productive, while another determined that low employee engagement costs organizations worldwide $8.8 trillion.
There is also research indicating that engagement is significantly higher among remote and hybrid workers than those who work exclusively on site. Attrition, the ultimate barometer for job satisfaction, has been shown to drop by as much as a third when workers switch from full-time office work to hybrid arrangements.
Gen Z has this one right
Gen Z has been maligned for its work ethic (which critics call lax) and focus on mental health (which critics call obsessive). But organizations can learn a lot by paying attention to the perspectives and priorities of the generation that’s expected to make up 30% of the U.S. workforce by 2030.
Recent studies show that Gen Zers crave in-person collaboration, seeing the office as a hub for mentorship and collaboration. At the same time, they feel strongly about having the option to work remotely.
The most successful remote organizations recognize the value of building trust, relationships, expertise and organizational culture in person. They bring people together for project kickoffs, debriefs, team-building retreats and even social gatherings, carefully designing these moments to focus on the activities and areas that get the biggest boost from “in real life” interactions.
This requires careful consideration and meticulous planning. Like all aspects of remote and hybrid work, getting it right is absolutely a challenge. It takes creativity, careful attention to what works and what doesn’t, an intrepid spirit and a fail-fast-to-innovate mentality. But given the sweeping changes we’ve all embraced since we first clicked “add to cart” on the Amazon website, doesn’t this challenge seem eminently surmountable?
Rachel Marcuse, COO at ReadySet
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