[nhangen]

Never thought I would agree, but recently started a new job in a fully remote company. I was super excited. I thought it would be a dream.

Instead, I have found that it's basically impossible to stand out in the ways I have in the past, via charisma, camaraderie, being inquisitive, etc. Remote work has basically devolved aptitude into a series of scores & metrics. It feels like working at an Amazon factory. Slack is a nightmare to keep up with.

[paxys]

On the other hand remote work is a godsend for people who do most of the work on the team but get skipped over for promotions because they lack "charisma" and don't participate in gossip/politics and don't spend hours after work every day at the bar with coworkers.

[nokya]

Very indeed.

My hypothesis is that the shift to more WFH has not reduced opportunities for advancement at all but has drastically shifted from one population, who knew how to maximize output from office interactions, to a population that knows how to maximize output from more virtual settings.

People who shine at the coffee machine, at business lunches, who are good at putting pressure on employees who arrive late at their desk, or know how to look efficient in front of a superior during in-presence meetings are completely clueless in how to operate virtual teams efficiently today. There are two possible responses to this: adapt or fight for the mythical "return to normal".

I am actually quite happy that this shift occurred at my company. New managers we didn't expect to be in 2019 have risen from nowhere amongst our ranks and are driving their teams surprisingly well. They are showing great initiative in establishing new processes and finding tools to support their operations, their team morale is generally good, I sincerely believe they are making us better in the long term.

Other managers, mostly late boomers I have to say it, are taking a huge hit to morale. We regularly receive complaints that we don't allow firing employees just because they don't want to come to the office. I actually had a senior manager telling me to f.off because I told him "you are a leader, it's your job to motivate her to come work with you at the office, not ours." I have recommended letting him go since...

One thing is for sure: moving to virtual settings, even partially, is requiring new management skills. I am still thinking this over but I believe managers' self-esteem plays a big role in the transition to virtual settings: many old school managers tend to assume they are successfully managing as long as they can see their employees physically at work during office hours. Whoever comes earlier and stays later is automatically ranked a better employee, even assured promotion, and whoever comes to the office for a meeting is immediately perceived as a better employee than those who joined online. Many managers who don't feel they have physical power over their teams anymore are struggling to regain control.

This approach doesn't work anymore in office settings, especially with qualified workforce. With WFH, there are people who start later, who disconnect earlier, who come back online after dinner, during weekends, who go on long lunches during work days or interrupt their morning for a 9.30am-10.30am workout. From what I see in our books, this doesn't affect our numbers negatively but stresses the hell out some of our managers. I am seeing a lot more flexibility in my employees than in my managers, which is somehow ironic!

To conclude my point, I think the issue with adopting a more remote/hybrid approach in the company stems from a lack of self-confidence amongst entry-level and middle-level managers in their ability to use "modern" tools to both interact more efficiently with their teams and to acquire the data they need.

Any manager who still struggles to share me his or her screen during a virtual session and can't refrain from complaining orally that "these tools suck" in 2022 has become a red flag to me.

[urthor]

What you've said about old school managers is actually very wise and rings true.

That old school mentality of "promote the person who sits down the earliest" actually has a lot of truth behind it.

Is it necessarily rigorously fair, equitable, management style? Is it accepting of working parents with a school run? Hell no.

But... I can definitely say, I can see it working.

[asd88]

I agree with all your points. However, Google Meet screen sharing regularly stops working on Chrome for Mac, so some widely used tools do suck in 2022.

[nokya]

Indeed, fully agree with you, there are collaboration tools that are and will likely remain untrustworthy under particular settings.

I like to think that some "collective intelligence" emerges in all organizations where users progressively become aware that some tools do not cope well with others. I have heard about these screen sharing issues with Chrome on Mac, but I expect from my managers that they switch to more stable "combinations" after a few weeks max, and stop complaining after two years.

[owaislone]

I totally get you and have experienced this at my current and previous job but I had totally opposite experiences at three jobs before that. It highly depends on the culture. Going remote first is not simply allowing remote work and calling it a day. It takes a lot of time and effort to cultivate a good "remote culture".

[Valakas_]

So basically you stood out not because of the work you did but because of social skills. Gotcha. Yet another reason why WFH is better. Rewards people who actually stand out due to quality of work and not unrelated unproductive skills that affect human psyche and make it seem like the person is contributing more than they are.

[paulcole]

Having good social skills is a big part of many people's jobs.

[tkiolp4]

That’s a godsend for me. I just really want to do my job and call it a day. No more no less. I’m a mercenary.