The battle for the future of work seems to be rumbling on, with the right to work from home at the forefront of this move. Despite the huge amount of evidence around the productivity of workers operating remotely, employers are still mandating a return to the office, with Amazon among the latest to do so. Indeed, in Return to Growth, former PA Consulting boss Jon Moynihan places working from home at the core of the so-called “war on woke”, and argues that those working from home are little more than skivers.

Such moves seem to swim against the tide of evidence in support of remote work. For instance, the Employment Opportunities and Satisfaction Monitor, from Adecco, found that remote working had increased by nearly 20% in Spain during 2023. This has resulted in around 3 million people working from home in the country, which was roughly twice the number that did so before Covid.

Trust in workers

Research from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya highlights that the key to success with remote work is often the management involved, which differs from that of on-premise teams.

The study found that for managers to open up to remote working, they have to be confident that it will be both easy to implement and also useful for the team and the wider organization. At the heart of this is their belief on whether it will have a positive impact on performance across their team.

“Managers can gauge the improvement in work performance with indicators such as the number of tasks carried out, the meeting of targets, the quality of the work delivered, absenteeism, etc,” the researchers explain. “Although it’s difficult to objectively measure the impact of teleworking on efficiency and productivity, managers’ positive perception around how it affects their tasks impacts their perception of its usefulness.”

Making it work

The study also highlighted the importance of self-confidence among managers. In other words, managers need to believe that they can make remote work effective for themselves and their team. At the heart of this is their relationship with their employees.

“It’s essential that managers trust workers and manage their teams on the basis of outcomes or goals, not attendance or the number of hours worked,” the researchers explain.

When workers feel trusted, they are more likely to achieve more and be more productive. This was demonstrated in research I covered in a recent article, which looked at how remote workers feel when they’re monitored by their bosses. The general consensus is that monitoring can be effective if workers feel it benefits them, but if they feel like they’re being spied on, it erodes the trust between them and their manager, with dire consequences.

Managing differently

Of course, it requires managers to approach their work differently. Research from Reichman University’s Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, which explored how managers viewed remote work, highlighted this.

The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with roughly 30 managers from various industries who shifted from office-based work to remote work during the pandemic.

The managers were requested to narrate their experiences with the transition process, beginning from the outbreak of COVID-19 to the time of the interview (conducted during Israel’s third wave of coronavirus), by which point the majority had already implemented remote work arrangements with their teams.

The results suggest a clear rise in tension among managers as various aspects of their work seemed to come into conflict with one another. For instance, there was a corresponding need to retain a trust-based relationship with employees but also a desire to effectively supervise their work when they were out of sight.

Similarly, the absence of geographic boundaries between one’s personal and professional environment made it that much harder to maintain professional boundaries. There were also tensions observed between the traditional concept of the manager as the fount of all knowledge, as few managers had any real expertise in operating in the new remote environment.

A supportive environment

The Spanish research also highlights the important role our environment plays. They found that when managers are surrounded by pressures from their peers or the wider culture of the organization, they are likely to modify their behavior accordingly. This can result in a hostility to remote working that may be neither justified or what their team needs.

The ability to operate in a changing and adaptive way is also crucial, and the researchers found that managers in more digital and knowledge-based organizations tended to be better at this, and were therefore warmer towards remote working.

Trust does seem to be the key factor, however. Moynihan clearly doesn’t trust workers who are not in sight of their manager to work effectively, and it seems no amount of evidence will prove otherwise. Thankfully, his former company doesn’t follow his lead, and instead highlights the important role managers and leaders play in making remote work effective.

The debate over remote work ultimately centers on trust and adaptability. While some companies and leaders, like Jon Moynihan, continue to resist this shift, research overwhelmingly shows that when managers embrace remote work with a focus on outcomes and trust, productivity and job satisfaction increase.

The future of work is evolving, and success will depend on how well managers can adapt to new styles of leadership, where trust in employees’ ability to deliver results takes precedence over physical presence in the office. Those organizations that foster this culture of trust and flexibility will likely be the ones to thrive in the changing landscape of work.