Opinion piece / The office mandate is laziness

Work flexibility has again burst into the debate with a bang. Well-known international employers have announced bans on remote work, and several Finnish companies have also visibly begun to demand that their employees return to the office. Remote work has even been accused of threatening competitiveness.

At the same time, we have read numerous surveys that repeat the same pattern: employers want their employees in the office, but employees want a more flexible working life. Office compulsion may be a panic decision and a short-term corrective move, but as a long-term solution, old-fashioned punch-clock thinking is not sustainable. The risk is that mistrust and the gap between employees and employers grows.

Instead of the discussion getting stuck at a yes-no level about whether work must be done in the office or whether the job can be handled at the cottage in a hammock, organisations should focus on identifying which way of working suits which purpose.

At the same time, I feel that we have become stuck talking about the problems and challenges of working life – for example in relation to remote work – when we should be focusing more on the needs of today’s working life and on how work can be organised in the best possible way for both employers and employees. I believe that a more flexible working life, for example, reduces the risk of burnout and extends careers, which would also increase the much-discussed and much-needed productivity.

The fear of losing power is overcome by focusing on developing management. How do we ensure active communication, shared ways of working, and leadership based on trust and openness? How do we empower rather than shackle? Especially in organisations that do knowledge work, it should be possible to operate efficiently regardless of location, rather than forcing people into the office simply because they cannot be managed in any other way.

In creating a shared, trust-based work culture, it is important to define common practices and understand the requirements of different kinds of work. Deep-focus knowledge work is best handled in a calm environment; a meeting marathon with headphones on can be handled from home; while planning that requires creative brainstorming may be best done with the team in the same space.

It is important to give individuals and teams autonomy in their work and room to express themselves, but also to provide clear frameworks and tools. Communicating expectations is important, but at least as essential is building a culture in which individuals and teams have room for autonomous work and self-expression.

Flexible work is also about good, responsible people management. People’s lives contain much more than work, and for many people flexibility in how work is arranged and how it functions in everyday life is extremely critical. Flexibility also helps attract the best talent. Management must know how to listen to staff wishes and think about how those wishes are matched with the employer’s needs.

The coronavirus pandemic forced many organisations into remote and hybrid work mode, in which practices often had to be created on the fly and without planning. Creating something new brings new challenges, but also opportunities.

Remote and hybrid work cannot be solely the employee’s decision, but a tunnel-visioned office mandate is lazy management and a possible sign of fear of losing control. The question is whether we want to regress to the old way or develop a more flexible and responsible working life together.

Marko Saaresto

Rakettitiede, Chair of the Board

This opinion piece was published in Talouselämä in December 2024.