Even though there is no need to work from home anymore, people have found that they can be just as productive working remotely as they would in an office. Even with companies dangling potential promotions to encourage workers to return to the office, many are convinced that they would be happier in the comfort of their homes.
Dell Workers Chose Remote Work Over Promotions
Earlier this year, Dell joined the list of companies who have begun to call back their employees to offices since the pandemic has died down. Still, many argue that there's no need for it, while others say that it would be an unnecessary inconvenience.
Other companies had more drastic consequences wherein staffers who refused the mandate would be fired, but Dell simply took away the possibility of a promotion when employees want to remain remote, and about half of its workforce is fine with that.
Ars Technica reports that this was seen through internal Dell tracking data, which is bad news for Dell as it aims to establish the old working system before the pandemic forced people to stay home to avoid contracting the virus.
A couple of Dell workers have been interviewed to determine why they chose to remain remote, and there were those who brought up their finances, saying that it costs less to work from home than to come to the office.
Of course, there were others who didn't have that much of a choice since their local offices had closed since the pandemic, meaning that they might have to move or suffer a long commute. Others were simply not interested in promotions.
Those who have spoken to employees who followed the hybrid schedule said that their co-workers were working in mostly empty offices, and were conducting with video calls other hybrid workers who were also in almost empty offices.
Why Are Companies Insisting on On-Site Work?
A lot of reasons have floated regarding the return-to-office policy. Some companies believe that having workers in the same environment would create a culture of collaboration and innovation, seeing as staffers can communicate in person.
It's likely that others simply prefer on-site work since leaders can monitor workers better to see whether they are productive or not. After all, it is much easier to fake working when you're at home with nothing but monitoring software to keep watch.
Several workers have figured out ways to cheat the system, especially those that measure productivity based on the movement of a remote worker's mouse. This, however, is not always foolproof, such as the situation Wells Fargo went through.
Workers were caught using mouse movers to move cursers, which resulted in over a dozen employees being fired, as reported by The Verge. There is already monitoring software that can detect patterns in mouse movements as well.
The incident definitely hurts the argument that remote workers can put forth, but it doesn't change the fact that the same kind of work that can be done in the office can also be accomplished at home.
