Managing Demand for Remote Work: Shadow Policies in 2024

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Almost exactly two years ago,¹ I wrote about remote work and how the frame of reference for remote work had changed as a result of the pandemic. This change occurred because, prior to March 2020, most workers had little ongoing experience with remote work. Sure, many employees had engaged in remote work over shorter periods—like responding to email after hours or putting in a few hours at home on a Saturday—but most were unfamiliar with an extended period of time where all their paid work was performed remotely.

Admittedly, many employees didn’t like it and probably weren’t as productive working from home. There’s plenty of evidence out there that remote work is not a good fit for all employees (Grawitch et al., 2023). But on the flip side, many workers did like it, and many were more productive than they were prior to the pandemic.²

The necessity for remote work eventually came to an end, though, and many employers wrestled with the question of how to move forward. Even though some experts, like Cali Yost,³ argued that companies should take a strategic approach to work flexibility moving forward, most companies ultimately attempted to revert to their well-established status quo—a full return to office (RTO). The RTO mandate was met with resistance in many circles, and since then, the tension between the pre-pandemic status quo and a more flexible workplace⁴ has continued to exist.

Unfortunately, one of the takeaways from my experience studying and reading about work-life balance issues is that companies are much more amenable to policies that promote work flexibility when things are going well financially. When the push to do more with less becomes more pressing or when company performance experiences a downturn, there seems to be an inevitable reaction to eliminate, or at least put massive constraints on, such policies.

Businesses, of course, go through ebbs and flows. But, since the pandemic, for some businesses, there’s been a lot more ebbing than flowing. That’s led to greater pressure on decision-makers to produce results, and the most obvious way to do that is to exercise more control over the workplace. Out with the flexibility, in with the RTO mandates, often grounded in assumptions similar to those underlying Marissa Mayers’ 2013 decision to effectively ban telecommuting at Yahoo.⁵

Yet, many employees desire flexibility and are willing to look elsewhere if their current employer isn’t willing to accommodate them. Before jumping ship, though, many employees are creatively seeking workarounds to RTO mandates.⁶ In 2023, that led to an uptake in what was called coffee badging, where employees would show up just long enough to have a cup of coffee and earn a virtual badge before heading home to accomplish their work. But this tactic came with costs. There was still the cost of commuting and parking, not to mention the amount of time it took to execute the workaround. And, so, it seems to have largely run its course.

But managers are not necessarily buying the need for fully onsite work, even if executives have. Managers are often more in touch with the needs and preferences of their direct reports, and managers, not executives, are the ones likely to be held accountable when quality employees leave. And so many of them have introduced what Robinson referred to as shadow policies, allowing workers to work remotely at least some of the time, even if it violates the company mandate.

This doesn’t mean, however, that such policies must result in a chaotic, anything-goes workplace. Instead, Robinson pulls in some data from Owl Labs 2023 State of Hybrid Work Report to suggest that work can and should be structured so that tasks best done in the office are done in the office and tasks best done remotely are done remotely. A well-designed workplace that permits strategic flexibility thus has the benefit of allowing workers to perform in environments that are more conducive to the tasks they need to complete.

It remains to be seen whether companies that mandate fully in-office work without any evidence-based reason for doing so will come around to a more strategically driven hybrid workplace model. Unless and until they do, managers and employees are likely to find ways to work around in-office mandates, and if that fails, those workers for whom flexibility is a top priority are likely to seek employment elsewhere.⁷