Recently, Google made headlines by announcing their post-pandemic hybrid work policy that mandates employees to work in-office for at least three days a week. This policy ignited a wave of discontent among two-thirds of Google employees, who voiced their unhappiness in internal meetings and public letters, even threatening to leave the company. The main issue for these employees is the lack of flexibility in working arrangements.
However, Google’s leadership is firm on their decision to require mostly in-office work to protect the company’s social capital- people’s connections and trust in each other. They plan to transition to full-time in-office work in the next few years. Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt also supports this notion by advocating that individuals should be at the office to receive on-the-job training for junior team members. Apple also requires a three-day work week, and similar to Google, is also facing employee discontent.
In contrast, other tech companies such as Amazon, Twitter, and non-tech companies such as Nationwide, Deloitte, 3M, and Applied Materials are offering more flexibility with extensive remote work options. These companies are not sacrificing social capital by choosing hybrid or fully remote work arrangements. In fact, research shows that hybrid and remote work arrangements do not necessarily lead to a loss of social capital. Rather, it is the organizations that try to apply traditional, office-centric methods of collaboration into these new work arrangements that suffer a loss in social capital.
The reason for this is because of dangerous judgment errors called cognitive biases that leaders often face in decision making. These biases impact all aspects of life, including business relationships. To overcome these biases, leaders need to adopt research-based best practices such as virtual coworking and virtual water coolers. These techniques are critical to building social capital in a hybrid or fully remote work environment.
Virtual coworking involves small teams working on their tasks together while on a video conference call, replicating the benefit of a shared cubicle space. It is a valuable opportunity for on-the-job training, as coworkers can answer questions and share their knowledge with junior team members. Similarly, the virtual water cooler is an excellent technique for building social capital by establishing a channel dedicated to non-work discussions where team members can share their personal experiences and get to know each other as human beings. This builds trust among team members and ultimately strengthens social capital.
In conclusion, hybrid and fully remote work arrangements do not have to mean a loss of social capital. If organizations adopt best practices for these work arrangements, they can build and maintain social capital, even without in-person office interaction. Companies that refuse to adapt to these new practices and choose to apply traditional office-centric methods will ultimately suffer in the war for talent. As such, adopting a flexible and progressive approach is critical for companies to remain competitive and attract top talent.
