Show up at work or we'll assume you've resigned
That was the very clear message Elon Musk gave the 100,000 employees of Tesla earlier this summer in two emails that have been shared on social media.
Berlingske shared this:
Musk's point is that companies that offer work-from-home are going out of business!
And the Corona shutdown had just given us a longing for working from home, with all the benefits it brings in terms of saved commuting time (including money and climate impact) and obvious family benefits with late drop-off and early pick-up of children. And on top of that, tasks were done more efficiently, in most people's view.
But as Musk points out, there are downsides too. We don't get to make good agreements and relationships with colleagues when we don't meet. Onboarding new employees is, of course, completely hopeless. And proximity bias causes inappropriateness. The latter is about the natural tendency to pay most attention to those who are closest (at the expense of those you don't see). I think he's right - excessive use of homework is not a problem for task completion, but the trend is stalling.
Well, shouldn't we just follow Musk's example in AGRO and stop working from home? No, I think that's a bad idea. Because Musk overlooks (or chooses to overlook in order to get universal attention) something very essential: the mutual trust relationship between workplace and employee. If the workplace demonstrates flexibility and trust, it will get flexibility and dedicated employees in return. If we are to aim high, dedicated employees are our foundation.
But it goes without saying that working from needs to be dosed carefully, put into a fixed framework and be visible. Both workplace - and employee - must be aware of the cost.
By the way, I'm taking a homeworking day tomorrow to let the contractors in - just check my Outlook!