Public debate about remote work has increased in recent months as employers have begun restricting the possibilities of employees from home, turning the limelight also on the negative aspects of remote work.

Koivula estimated to the public broadcaster that about half of remote workers are performing well and the other half poorly. Companies and work communities, by contrast, have suffered as a result of the absence of employees at the workplace.

“The sense of community and ability to innovate aren’t at the desired level.”

He added that overall expectations about working life and life in general have also changed dramatically, as evidenced by the fact that discussions about workplaces today broach on issues that were outright unimaginable five years ago.

“It’s indicative of the major change we’re seeing in our working life. The coronavirus was a sort of watershed in that regard,” he said.

He also called attention to the diversity of companies and individual circumstances, urging companies to examine their situation in order to determine the optimal approach and commit to developing it in the long term.

“Everyone should find its own path,” Koivula said to YLE.

Koivula described the shift as “a revolution” in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat on Monday. Bosses, he said, are no longer able to decide whether employees work from home or the office, and especially experts have ended up working remotely in large numbers without any decisions based on thorough analysis and consideration.

“Whether you work remotely or not has become the individual’s own choice – a kind of achieved perk,” he said.

This should not be the case, he stressed. The question is so important that each organisation should make its own decision on it after carefully weighing up all the relevant information.

Survey: Employees, employers disagree on right amount of remote work

JLL, a global property management consultancy, on Monday reported that a gulf has emerged between employer and employee views on the appropriate amount of remote work.

Its international survey found that 41 per cent of corporate executives hope that employees work in person three or four days a week and 44 per cent that employees work the full five days a week. Only five per cent of them contrastively viewed that there should be no requirement for in-person work and nine per cent that in-person work is only necessary on one or two days a week.

Finnish executives were slightly more tolerant toward remote work than the global average, nearly half of them hoping that employees spend three to four days a week at the workplace. A third of them voiced their support for a week with five in-person workdays and less than a fifth for a week with no more than two in-person workdays.

Executives from 57 companies responded to the survey in Finland.

The results stand in contrast with those of a survey published in March by JLL. One-third of the 1,000 white-collar workers who responded to the survey said they would prefer not to work in person even once a week. The second most popular choice, however, was a complete return to in-person work, with one-fifth of respondents advocating.

Each of the remaining options – one two three or four in-person workdays a week – received the support of roughly 12 per cent of respondents. On average, the employees expressed their support for 1.7 in-person workdays a week, roughly two fewer than employers.

“The majority of corporate decision makers hope that attendance at offices increases, whereas staff place an emphasis on flexibility. Especially in Finland, there is a clear contrast between the views of executives and staff,” Sofia Jakas, a director at JLL, commented in a press release on Monday, 4 November.

The contrast has become increasingly pronounced due to a shift in employer views, as two years ago the majority of executives regarded hybrid work as a key pull factors for employees. Jakas viewed that the shift stems not only from frustration about unused office space, but also from the realisation that employee attendance fosters encounters, productivity, exchange of information and joint innovation.

She encouraged employers to utilise the carrot rather than the stick to bring employees back to the workplace.

“You should not mandate that employees have to be at the office because it erodes the workplace climate,” she said.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT