NEW YORK–Credit union leaders aren’t alone in wondering what the future holds for their workforces, whether many will remain at home, most will return to the office, or there will be some middle ground. Leaders of other organizations are wrestling with the same questions.
While there has been a number of predictions that the “remote first” model that has emerged during the coronavirus pandemic will become the new normal moving forward, others are saying that’s a bit hasty.
Paco Ybarra, Citigroup’s head of investment banking, is predicting the benefits of remote working will erode. Ybarra, in an interview with The Financial Times, said the relationships currently sustaining business were built from face-to-face meetings before the lockdown — “capital that we have accumulated before.” The longer people are apart, the weaker those bonds become, he said.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, also told the Financial Times he has asked himself similar questions to those of Ybarra. Referring to hiring in a remote-working setup, he told the Times, “I ask myself if somebody new had joined Microsoft, even at the senior ranks, how would they feel? How connected will they feel?”
Affecting Culture
That feeling of connectivity has a strong bearing on company culture, and David Plotz of Business Insider predicts a potentially destabilizing divide between workers who get ahead by going into the office and those who work remotely and miss out on career opportunities.
“Everyone who wants to manage, to run things, to influence, to jockey, to make friends, to build a network — they will clamor to work in the office,” wrote Plotz. “Almost every single ambitious person in a company will be demanding a desk at HQ.”
Finally, one columnist with the New York Times, examining whether proximity to power is important, wondered if an executive who promotes a remote-first approach but works mostly in the office him or herself isn’t diluting that message. When the columnist conducted a Twitter poll, he found a 50/50 split on whether the CEO should work from the office.