Since the dawn of computers and the internet, workers have been wanting to work from home at least part of the time. And at the same time, employers wanted all employees in the office. Some employers would allow working from home on an occasional basis for total rockstar employees or those who were part of the C-suite, but mostly, employees were required to come to the office.
Enter COVID. And suddenly nearly everyone was forced to work from home.
Now, we are in this tug-of-war where employees who worked from home mostly liked their schedule or at least want a more flexible option, like a hybrid work schedule.
Most employers are adamantly opposed to this. Why? Because employers don’t trust their employees; or, from my perspective, they don’t trust their hiring process.
If you have a fantastic employee that you don’t have to manage, life is great. You know the ones: they communicate well, they meet deadlines, they solve problems, your customers LOVE them. Then, you don’t care if they work from home! They can do whatever they want, because you know at the end of the day, the work is getting done and clients are pleased.
But, if you hire a crappy employee who works from home, it is damn near impossible to micro-manage them if they aren’t in the office. Therein lies the rub.
In order to be able to offer work-from-home options and feel good about it, an employer must have a solid hiring process in place. The right employee is going to be effective no matter where they work, and the wrong employee will get nothing done no matter where they work. It really is that simple and straightforward.
Power thought: Solve the work-from-home dilemma by improving your hiring process. Then you can work-from-home too!