Remote Work Skeptics Are Forgetting Their Most Valuable Asset. Here’s Why.

While there’s a widely-held belief that three days a week in the office is the magic number, with a number of large companies adopting it, it’s a fundamentally flawed approach. Instead, what leaders need to focus on is how hybrid work arrangements will serve customer needs.

A Columbia Business School study reviews a text analysis of earnings call transcripts of S&P 500 companies to show that company executives talk about customers 10 times more often than employees – a number that has grown over the last 15 years. Additionally, when companies discuss employees, executives are more likely to correlate them to risk factors and consumers to growth opportunities.

Ironically, executives fail to put this focus into action when figuring out their return to office and hybrid work policy. For example, a survey of 1,300 knowledge workers found that only 28% said their company is making it worthwhile to commute to the office. No wonder: while there’s a widely-held belief that three days a week in the office is the magic number — with a number of large companies adopting it — it’s a fundamentally flawed approach.

Instead, what leaders need to focus on is how hybrid work arrangements will serve customer needs. It might be that three, four, five, two, one, or no days in the office works best for your customers. But the key is to prioritize customer needs in creating a successful hybrid work plan and business leaders need to build their strategies around this focus.

As a globally-renowned expert in the future of work who helped 22 organizations figure out their hybrid and remote work policies, I can tell you confidently that this is the biggest mistake companies make in hybrid work. Namely, they fail to “start with why” and don’t work from the end goal back to the policies required to make it happen for the sake of customer success.

Debunking the myth of the three-day work week

The assumption that having employees in the office for three days a week is the optimal solution for hybrid work is misguided. This one-size-fits-all approach fails to consider the unique needs of the customers.

The three-day work week emerged as a popular solution amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic. As companies experimented with hybrid work models, this arrangement appeared to strike a balance between the benefits of remote work and the need for in-person collaboration. However, the adoption of this model by numerous organizations has led to the misconception that it’s universally applicable.

The effectiveness of a three-day work week varies significantly across industries and roles. For instance, in sectors like software development or creative services, a greater degree of remote work might be feasible without any loss in productivity or sacrifice of customer needs. On the other hand, industries or functions that rely heavily on in-person interactions, such as sales, may require more on-site presence to maintain customer service quality. A tailored hybrid work strategy takes these industry and role-specific considerations into account, ensuring that the work arrangement aligns with the inherent demands of the sector.

Instead, leaders should adopt a more agile approach, one that prioritizes customer needs and adapts to the ever-evolving business landscape.

Related: A New Remote Work Trend is Helping Employers Retain Talent Amid Labor Market Pressures

Understanding your customers

The first step in crafting a customer-centric hybrid work plan is to gain a deep understanding of your customers’ expectations and preferences. This involves examining customer feedback, conducting market research and engaging in open dialogue with your clients. By understanding their needs and preferences, you can tailor your hybrid work arrangements to better serve them.

For instance, a company providing technical support services may discover that their customers highly value prompt responses to their inquiries. In this case, adopting a hybrid work model that ensures adequate staffing during peak hours, regardless of employee location, would be critical in meeting customer needs.

Indeed, one of my clients who does provide such services found that it was more helpful to have staff working remotely most of the work week. That’s because most employees were much more willing to work non-standard hours when they worked remotely. Thus, the company was better able to provide customer support during a longer time period with faster responses by having shifts during non-standard working hours. Still, customer service staff came into the office one day a week, to make sure there was someone available for the rare occasions when customers came to the office in person.

It’s not surprising, right? My own LinkedIn survey found that 80% of respondents worked more non-standard hours in remote work, compared to in the office, as staff are more willing to work…