Key points:
- Many companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, are requiring employees to work from the office, which may make it harder for IT leaders to keep and hire staff.
- IT workers value flexibility and may look for new jobs if they are forced to work from the office, with 83% saying flexible work arrangements are "high value" or "essential".
- IT leaders should focus on what types of work are better when employees are together and plan for those scenarios, rather than enforcing blanket in-office mandates.
As the world moves away from the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies are bringing back work-from-office mandates. This means that employees are being asked to come back to the office instead of working from home. Some experts think that this will make it harder for IT leaders to keep and hire staff. Microsoft and Amazon are two big companies that have already started requiring employees to work from the office.
A recent report by Ivanti found that almost half of all workers, and nearly two-thirds of IT professionals, are feeling pressure from their employers to work from the office. This is a big change from the past few years, when many companies allowed employees to work from home. Some people think that working from the office will make employees more productive and help them work together better. However, other studies have found that workers can be just as productive when working remotely.
Lawrence Wolfe, CTO at Converge, says that there is value in having teams work together in person. "When teams meet for architecture sessions, design sprints, or incident response, the pace of progress, as well as the level of clarity, may increase simply because being in-person caters to the way most people in the business interact," he says. However, he also notes that there are potential downsides to strict work-from-office policies, including the risk of losing top IT talent.
IT workers are skeptical of return-to-office mandates. A survey by Ivanti found that 83% of IT workers say flexible work arrangements are "high value" or "essential". This is higher than the 73% of office workers who say the same thing. IT workers who are facing work-from-office mandates are also more likely to look for new jobs. According to Metaintro, a search engine that tracks millions of jobs, IT workers facing work-from-office mandates are two to three times more likely to look for new jobs than their counterparts.
Lena McDearmid, founder and CEO of Wryver, says that some IT jobs are better done in person. These include device provisioning, network operations, and conference room IT support. She also notes that in-person work is valuable for onboarding and mentoring early-career technologists. However, she says that presence alone doesn’t create value. "Many technologists, especially engineers, data scientists, and architects doing deep, complex work, often perform better in controlled environments with fewer interruptions," she says.
Microsoft Azure and other cloud-based platforms have made it easier for IT workers to work remotely. However, some companies are still requiring employees to work from the office. This has led to a debate about the benefits and drawbacks of work-from-office mandates. While some people think that working from the office is essential for productivity and collaboration, others believe that it is not necessary and can even be counterproductive.
Rebecca Wettemann, CEO at Valoir, says that IT leaders should focus on data that measures work outcomes, not badge swipes. "CIOs can help IT teams by enabling them to automate repetitive works so they can focus on measurable outputs," she says. IT leaders should also make the workplace a real place to collaborate, and align office space, meeting schedules, and in-office days to reinforce the goals of collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Overall, the trend towards work-from-office mandates is likely to continue, but IT leaders need to be aware of the potential downsides and focus on creating a workplace that is productive and collaborative. By using Microsoft and Azure tools, IT leaders can create a flexible and efficient work environment that meets the needs of their employees.
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