As more than 155,000 civil servants in Canada strike for their right to work from home, among other demands, the fight between workers and employees over the return to the office is still flourishing. After a period of a competitive talent market, looming economic conditions are giving power back to employers. Many big employers like Twitter, Disney, and Starbucks have seized the opportunity to attempt to force a return to the office. But workers don’t want it.
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Why are these companies waging a war on where work needs to happen? Because they see it as a perk. Much like free lunches, large sign-on bonuses, and extravagant offsites, for these leaders, remote work is merely a benefit they can roll back in times of economic hardship. But the strike in Canada shows that remote work goes deeper–for employees and companies.
I have worked at two fully remote companies, including the one I currently lead. At both, remote work has never been a perk that could be taken away. It is fundamental to how the business runs. It’s a meaningful difference that affects the infrastructure, hiring practices, culture, and bottom line. While workers enjoy the flexibility, the companies benefit even more.
Remote-first companies are better prepared to face all economic conditions. From a pure cost perspective, a global workforce can abandon real estate in cities such as San Francisco, London, and New York. Operating in big technology hubs requires expensive office space, much of it going unused, even if workers are called into the office a few days a week.
Instead, the budget can be spent on recruiting the best of the best, regardless of where they work. Location-agnostic hiring is the best route for the success of a company. The talent pool becomes much broader, which is especially important to fill the high-demand, highly technical roles that are crucial to the success of any business. It brings in more employees from wider backgrounds and experiences, especially talented workers who are interested in working for a top, innovative company, but might not have the means or desire to work in a major business hub.
The best talent wants to work for forward-thinking companies. Recent research from LinkedIn shows remote positions make up just 15% of listings, but receive an outsized 50% of submitted job applications. The top prospects can always find companies with flexible working arrangements and the vision that comes with them.
At the cultural level, it’s hard to overstate the impact of remote infrastructure. A global, remote workforce necessitates asynchronous work. When everyone operates in different time zones already, employees can customize their work hours to what suits them best. It means less time wasted in meetings, and not only more productivity, but also having more meals with family, taking mid-afternoon runs, getting enough sleep, or picking up the kids from school.
Likely because of these lifestyle benefits, remote and hybrid workers tend to be easier to please. Remote’s research found that over 80% of these employees are satisfied with their benefits, as compared to only 60% of in-person workers. They value remote work above all else and are more willing to overlook the level of overall benefits in favor of location flexibility–because they know a remote workplace reflects values deeper than just skipping the commute.
Following the latest flurry of office mandates, we have yet to see how many actually have teeth. Only 3% of companies have said they would actively enforce their policies by firing an offender. For those who do stay on, employees may be just biding their time until the market feels safer to make a switch: Over 60% of Americans would quit their job for a fully remote opportunity.
When workers are concerned about job security, leaders feel safe rolling back remote work policies without much pushback. They should consider what they might be missing out on.
Eventually, the market will swing back in workers’ favor–and the same companies that now are touting the office may find themselves offering flexible work once more. But without a real commitment to remote work as a business decision, these companies will find themselves caught in the bargaining cycle. By the time they figure it out, savvier employers will have reaped the rewards.
Job van der Voort is the co-founder and CEO of Remote.
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