Internet Brands, the parent company of WebMD, has created a storm on social media when their internal video for Return to Office campaign got leaked on Twitter (now X). Internet Brands WFH has now become a hot topic of discussion among corporate leadership, HR, and the workforce alike.
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Internet Brands WFH Viral Post on X
The parent company of WebMD made an unbelievably bad video telling workers to come back to the office.
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) January 11, 2024
Bob Brisco, CEO of Internet Brands, says, "We aren't asking or negotiating at this point."
And somehow that's not even the worst part. pic.twitter.com/YIgmufgISK
While most of the video has different leaders requesting work from office and the employees who are working from office sharing their positive feedback about it, people seem to have taken offense to the CEO saying, “We aren’t asking or negotiating at this point. We are informing …”. Also, the forced aggression to “crush the competition” as a reason for working from office hasn’t gone unnoticed.
What are the arguments from both sides?
Work From Home (WFH) has been a matter of debate ever since COVID subsided. Many corporate leaders have been favoring return to office since but facing strong resistance from the workforce. The reasons both sides give are many. While the leadership is unsure of how the lack of face-to-face interaction affects teamwork and the honesty of employees while working from home, employees are dreading the effort and time commute.
Leaders have shared how some employees have been moonlighting (second, part-time job done after work hours of the regular job) and some have even been drawing full salaries from more than one company. Employees argue that working during COVID lockdown has proven that work can be done efficiently from home for many kinds of jobs, then why take the stress and effort of commute.
BizLeader’s View
We feel that many leaders are not being practical in their thoughts about WFH. They have insecurities, which get triggered when they hear or read about similar insecurities of other leaders. Many small companies are just following the decisions of bigger companies to return to office, as they look up to the leaders of bigger organizations, even if conditions for them may be entirely different. BizLeader feels it is just the fear of change. People have been working from office for centuries but work from home is recent. Which of the two would be lesser risk?
The leaders who think like this are disconnected from reality. They imagine themselves in the shoes of the newer generation, feeling unsure of the effects of remote working. When they were younger, how the interactions with other teammates helped them. In reality, the way we work has changed a lot. It always changes. Timesheets, project management, processes, efficiency and so on are constantly keeping tabs on everybody’s work. On the other hand, most employees are anyway trying to do their best. The mistrust on employees, and the assumption that people have to be forced to do their work well, is a red flag about the organization’s culture.
Handling the Undesirable
We can expect a few rotten apples here and there. How the management deals with such is up to them. However, care should be taken to not jump to conclusions, not to demotivate those who are motivated, and not to force decisions without knowing all aspects. Avoid making it an issue that creates a dictatorial image of management. Such an image can have cascading effects on other matters of managing human resources.
Moonlighting can only be discouraged through contracts and reminders about them. Trying to completely stop it is futile. It can be done after hours even when working from office.
The same goes for laziness and excuses to not work. It’s a problem with individuals. Will it completely stop when working from the office?
The Missing Desirables
Leaders don’t talk much about the undesirables above, but talk more about culture, teamwork, and comradery when the team works in the same physical space. There is some substance in it. Of the 5 Stages of Team Development, the Storming stage requires interaction. Face to face has more nuances than virtual, so it works better. However, the difference between the two is more when teams are not together for long times (such as only coming together for a single project) or when they don’t have much time or experience about connecting virtually. They may also not get enough opportunities to have casual chats virtually, when chat or video conferencing is used only for work and the workload is high.
Some of these missing desirables can be covered by hybrid working and other reasons to meet physically on occasions, creating an online culture that replicates offline interactions (such as casual online team meets, celebrations), and keeping the workload in check. Toxic cultures can get amplified online, so any toxicity needs to be curtailed at every level. Be conscious that reasons for passing blame between individuals or departments need to be identified and removed. If cooperation is in the culture, not competition, then Work from Home will surely prove to be win-win for all. Hybrid is surely workable with the right intent and planning.
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