As we all know, the spring of 2020 has brought to us the new standards of life — 100% remote work, 100% online education and so on. And, even though the processes of changing a workplace to one which combines remote work with being in the office has already begun in many companies around the world — it turned out that many managers nowadays struggle to measure effectiveness of employees and organize work properly without everyday supervision.
Management in a company is traditionally done with a worker being nearby and working at a desk. At least, that is what traditional managers are used to. According to classical theories of management — supervision and control are essential for good results. And the mission if a company is to gain maximum profit. A manager is not a tutor or a wiser friend but firstly a supervisor. The classical theory of management contains, for example, the framework of Max Weber who proclaimed bureaucracy to be the most suitable way to organize work in a company. Many of Weber’s beliefs discourage creativity and collaboration in the workplace and oppose flexibility and risk. Employees are obliged to follow strict rules and strive to achieve the best results and the maximum profit for a company.
A great example of classical management thought would be Henry Ford, who was famous not only for inventing the first conveyor machines but also for setting a very autocratic atmosphere on the factories. And even though his workers were provided with really high salaries the everyday surveillance by managers was highly criticized.
As I previously mentioned — the transition from working only in the office to part-time office — part-time home type of employment has already been applied in many companies around the world (mainly IT ones). As a local example we can take is a well-known Russian company — Mail Ru group, where being in an office is not obligatory, but provides certain bonuses (free gym and a juice bar, for example). These “little things” make the office space not a “work cage”, but a creative space where you want to go even if you do not need to. This approach to office work made the moving to balanced teleworking smooth and effective.