因疫情而改变：这家公司推行永久远程办公
鉴于新冠疫情蔓延和最新变异毒株奥密克戎的出现，许多大型美国公司开始重新预测复工日期，要么再次推迟，要么坦然承认它们也不知道员工何时能够顺利复工。
今年9月，Uber宣布将实行混合办公模式，员工每周需来办公室工作三天。不过，12月初，Uber又说在最新通知出来之前，员工无需来办公室工作。苹果和谷歌推迟了返工日期，具体推迟到什么时候还未确定。
不过，还有公司觉得永久远程办公模式将是最适合员工的长远之计。Upwork是美国的一个自由职业平台，自由职业者和寻求服务的企业可通过这一平台联系。其总部位于旧金山，市值达43亿美元。去年五月，该公司决定推行永久远程办公模式。该公司告诉《财富》杂志，其永久远程办公模式让员工能够更加灵活地掌控工作进度，并且省下了以前在办公空间上花费的资金。
该公司的人力资源主管佐伊·哈特说：“推行远程办公后，财务人员很高兴，广大员工很高兴，公司领导也很高兴。因为我们都在带领公司前进，并且形成了一个敬业的团队，和公司紧密相连，并真正取得了一些成绩。”
Upwork由来自86个国家的2000名团队成员组成。疫情爆发之前，Upwork的几乎所有自由职业者（占其员工总数的75%）都是远程办公，但全职员工中只有约10%进行远程工作。而如今，该公司的团队100%远程办公，全职员工和自由职业者都一样——当然如果他们愿意，依然可以选择在办公室工作。
Upwork推行远程办公如此顺利的原因之一在于许多员工在去年新冠大流行之前便早已开始居家办公。而那些需要在办公室办公的员工每周三也会进行一次远程办公——这已经成为了该公司的一个传统。
哈特说：“整个公司的员工原本每周就会进行一次居家办公。因为我们认为这样可以让我们和公司分散在各地的自由职业者之间产生一种共鸣，这一点十分重要。”她还提到，在每周三远程办公的过程中，员工们逐渐形成了相应的工具和语言，如较为完善的虚拟会议和有意识地制定工作计划。基于此，他们能够将每周三的远程办公变为一种新常态，公司也很好地完成了向永久远程办公的过渡。
关于员工如何看待远程办公的数据较为矛盾。技术咨询公司451 Research的一项调查显示，只有11%的员工表示他们觉得居家办公更有效率，大多数人则不然；这11%大多都是在技术和远程办公方面经验丰富的领导者。但是，Chicago Booth Review于2020年5月至2021年3月之间对3万多名员工进行了一项追踪调查，结果显示40%的被访者觉得在新冠疫情大流行期间，在家比在办公室更有效率，只有15%的人表示他们在家办公的效率比在办公室低。
汉娜·巴德姆斯是Upwork的法律顾问，对她而言，四年前选择加入这个公司的原因之一便是每周三可以远程办公。
她对《财富》杂志说到：“我当初面试的时候，一位面试官说我们每周三可以选择居家办公。我心想‘这不是在开玩笑吧？’我还以为在做梦呢。”
2020年3月，由于新冠病毒有在美国有大范围流行的趋势，Upwork在旧金山、圣克拉拉、芝加哥的办公室便彻底关闭。仅仅两个月后，该公司宣布实行永久远程办公模式——如果员工愿意，当然也可以选择在办公室工作。2020年10月，由于对面对面开会所需空间的需求减弱，公司便关闭了位于圣克拉拉的办公室。今年11月——距离该公司只留下两个办公室近乎一年左右——Upwork仅仅允许已接种疫苗的员工选择在办公室工作。
Upwork的高级采购经理卡梅伦·罗伯茨现居迈阿密，他说：“我担心连续五天远程办公会有点过于极端。我感染过新冠病毒，但我仍觉得远程办公是个令人震惊的转变。”
他还说：“工作中拥有这么多的灵活性让人觉得不太真实。我觉得很有必要写下工作和生活中的需要优先完成的事情，然后评估到底如何安排才最能有效地完成这些事情。”
美国管理咨询公司科尔尼就业方面的专家金·富尔顿告诉《财富》杂志：“公司向优先远程办公模式过渡时需要注意，它们可能无意中给员工带来了负担。”
她说：“因为这样赋予了员工更多的自主权和控制权……员工需要能够更主动地把控工作和生活之间的平衡，并且真正能够建立和维护二者之间的界限。领导者需要与员工一起制定并保持这一界限。”
当巴德姆斯意识到远程办公将成为永久模式时，她开始担心会失去与同事偶遇和交流的机会了。
巴德姆斯讲述了疫情爆发前在办公室办公的情景：“我和刚认识的同事一起喝咖啡慢慢建立了深厚的感情——有时候在公司厨房喝咖啡，有时候一起吃午饭。”彻底开始远程办公之后，她就不可能再偶遇同事了，这一点让人十分不快。
罗伯茨说：“我花了很长时间才把自己的办公区间整理妥当。说实话，我是个喜欢社交的人，要适应没有办公室闲聊的模式对我来说有点困难。”
巴德姆斯说她用更有意的联系取代了之前和同事的偶遇。如果她想认识某位同事，她会请那位同事一起去虚拟咖啡馆。Upwork有一项名为“Glow Up”的计划，意在为有色人种领导者提供交流的平台。罗伯茨说他是公司内“Up and Out”性少数团体的一员，他常和其他成员一起庆祝节日。通过这样的线上计划，巴德姆斯说她遇到了在办公室工作时很难偶遇到的人。
富尔顿说：“远程工作的主要优点并不仅限于灵活性。员工们真正想要的是一种更大的自主权和控制权，可以自由决定何时去办公室何时远程办公。”
她说：“公司推行混合或远程办公模式体现了对员工更高程度的尊重和信任。”
开始永久远程办公后，罗伯茨和巴德姆斯都搬家了。对巴德姆斯来说，这是一个与家人更亲近的机会；新冠疫情大流行前，她总是不得不住在她公司附近。
罗伯茨说：“远程办公让我拥有了更多的自由，可以尽情地旅行以及做其他各种想做的事情，正因如此，我也很难回到办公室或任何传统的朝九晚五的工作模式。”
Upwork的员工仍然可以选择去办公室工作。不过巴德姆斯会谨慎地选择何时去办公室。
她说：“如果可以一次见到一个团队的10个人左右，那么我会选择去办公室。”否则，她仍会居家办公，因为这样更方便她以律师的身份拨打私人电话。
虽然Upwork拒绝公开通过关闭位于圣克拉拉的办公室和重新分配资金节省了多少钱，但它的确承认将这笔钱用于投资新软件和改造剩余的两个办公室。它还给了员工1000美元的家庭办公室津贴，以及需要会员费的第三方工作空间的联合办公津贴。
Upwork说其永久远程办公模式收效甚好，但其他公司的员工也希望如此吗？
Workhuman为《财富》杂志进行的一项调查表明，在1000名接受调查的全职员工中，一半以上的人期待重返办公室工作。盖洛普管理咨询公司的调查显示，在美国，以某种身份远程办工的员工中有54%更喜欢混合办公模式，只有9%的人希望在办公室从事全职工作。
巴德姆斯说：“我认为，在疫情爆发之前，人们有这样一种误解——如果别人没有看到你在工作，你就没有在工作。我一直认为这种想法十分愚蠢。”她还说即便坐在办公室工作，她和她同事很多时候也没干成什么事情。（财富中文网）
译者：段茹雪
鉴于新冠疫情蔓延和最新变异毒株奥密克戎的出现，许多大型美国公司开始重新预测复工日期，要么再次推迟，要么坦然承认它们也不知道员工何时能够顺利复工。
今年9月，Uber宣布将实行混合办公模式，员工每周需来办公室工作三天。不过，12月初，Uber又说在最新通知出来之前，员工无需来办公室工作。苹果和谷歌推迟了返工日期，具体推迟到什么时候还未确定。
不过，还有公司觉得永久远程办公模式将是最适合员工的长远之计。Upwork是美国的一个自由职业平台，自由职业者和寻求服务的企业可通过这一平台联系。其总部位于旧金山，市值达43亿美元。去年五月，该公司决定推行永久远程办公模式。该公司告诉《财富》杂志，其永久远程办公模式让员工能够更加灵活地掌控工作进度，并且省下了以前在办公空间上花费的资金。
该公司的人力资源主管佐伊·哈特说：“推行远程办公后，财务人员很高兴，广大员工很高兴，公司领导也很高兴。因为我们都在带领公司前进，并且形成了一个敬业的团队，和公司紧密相连，并真正取得了一些成绩。”
Upwork由来自86个国家的2000名团队成员组成。疫情爆发之前，Upwork的几乎所有自由职业者（占其员工总数的75%）都是远程办公，但全职员工中只有约10%进行远程工作。而如今，该公司的团队100%远程办公，全职员工和自由职业者都一样——当然如果他们愿意，依然可以选择在办公室工作。
Upwork推行远程办公如此顺利的原因之一在于许多员工在去年新冠大流行之前便早已开始居家办公。而那些需要在办公室办公的员工每周三也会进行一次远程办公——这已经成为了该公司的一个传统。
哈特说：“整个公司的员工原本每周就会进行一次居家办公。因为我们认为这样可以让我们和公司分散在各地的自由职业者之间产生一种共鸣，这一点十分重要。”她还提到，在每周三远程办公的过程中，员工们逐渐形成了相应的工具和语言，如较为完善的虚拟会议和有意识地制定工作计划。基于此，他们能够将每周三的远程办公变为一种新常态，公司也很好地完成了向永久远程办公的过渡。
关于员工如何看待远程办公的数据较为矛盾。技术咨询公司451 Research的一项调查显示，只有11%的员工表示他们觉得居家办公更有效率，大多数人则不然；这11%大多都是在技术和远程办公方面经验丰富的领导者。但是，Chicago Booth Review于2020年5月至2021年3月之间对3万多名员工进行了一项追踪调查，结果显示40%的被访者觉得在新冠疫情大流行期间，在家比在办公室更有效率，只有15%的人表示他们在家办公的效率比在办公室低。
汉娜·巴德姆斯是Upwork的法律顾问，对她而言，四年前选择加入这个公司的原因之一便是每周三可以远程办公。
她对《财富》杂志说到：“我当初面试的时候，一位面试官说我们每周三可以选择居家办公。我心想‘这不是在开玩笑吧？’我还以为在做梦呢。”
2020年3月，由于新冠病毒有在美国有大范围流行的趋势，Upwork在旧金山、圣克拉拉、芝加哥的办公室便彻底关闭。仅仅两个月后，该公司宣布实行永久远程办公模式——如果员工愿意，当然也可以选择在办公室工作。2020年10月，由于对面对面开会所需空间的需求减弱，公司便关闭了位于圣克拉拉的办公室。今年11月——距离该公司只留下两个办公室近乎一年左右——Upwork仅仅允许已接种疫苗的员工选择在办公室工作。
Upwork的高级采购经理卡梅伦·罗伯茨现居迈阿密，他说：“我担心连续五天远程办公会有点过于极端。我感染过新冠病毒，但我仍觉得远程办公是个令人震惊的转变。”
他还说：“工作中拥有这么多的灵活性让人觉得不太真实。我觉得很有必要写下工作和生活中的需要优先完成的事情，然后评估到底如何安排才最能有效地完成这些事情。”
美国管理咨询公司科尔尼就业方面的专家金·富尔顿告诉《财富》杂志：“公司向优先远程办公模式过渡时需要注意，它们可能无意中给员工带来了负担。”
她说：“因为这样赋予了员工更多的自主权和控制权……员工需要能够更主动地把控工作和生活之间的平衡，并且真正能够建立和维护二者之间的界限。领导者需要与员工一起制定并保持这一界限。”
当巴德姆斯意识到远程办公将成为永久模式时，她开始担心会失去与同事偶遇和交流的机会了。
巴德姆斯讲述了疫情爆发前在办公室办公的情景：“我和刚认识的同事一起喝咖啡慢慢建立了深厚的感情——有时候在公司厨房喝咖啡，有时候一起吃午饭。”彻底开始远程办公之后，她就不可能再偶遇同事了，这一点让人十分不快。
罗伯茨说：“我花了很长时间才把自己的办公区间整理妥当。说实话，我是个喜欢社交的人，要适应没有办公室闲聊的模式对我来说有点困难。”
巴德姆斯说她用更有意的联系取代了之前和同事的偶遇。如果她想认识某位同事，她会请那位同事一起去虚拟咖啡馆。Upwork有一项名为“Glow Up”的计划，意在为有色人种领导者提供交流的平台。罗伯茨说他是公司内“Up and Out”性少数团体的一员，他常和其他成员一起庆祝节日。通过这样的线上计划，巴德姆斯说她遇到了在办公室工作时很难偶遇到的人。
富尔顿说：“远程工作的主要优点并不仅限于灵活性。员工们真正想要的是一种更大的自主权和控制权，可以自由决定何时去办公室何时远程办公。”
她说：“公司推行混合或远程办公模式体现了对员工更高程度的尊重和信任。”
开始永久远程办公后，罗伯茨和巴德姆斯都搬家了。对巴德姆斯来说，这是一个与家人更亲近的机会；新冠疫情大流行前，她总是不得不住在她公司附近。
罗伯茨说：“远程办公让我拥有了更多的自由，可以尽情地旅行以及做其他各种想做的事情，正因如此，我也很难回到办公室或任何传统的朝九晚五的工作模式。”
Upwork的员工仍然可以选择去办公室工作。不过巴德姆斯会谨慎地选择何时去办公室。
她说：“如果可以一次见到一个团队的10个人左右，那么我会选择去办公室。”否则，她仍会居家办公，因为这样更方便她以律师的身份拨打私人电话。
虽然Upwork拒绝公开通过关闭位于圣克拉拉的办公室和重新分配资金节省了多少钱，但它的确承认将这笔钱用于投资新软件和改造剩余的两个办公室。它还给了员工1000美元的家庭办公室津贴，以及需要会员费的第三方工作空间的联合办公津贴。
Upwork说其永久远程办公模式收效甚好，但其他公司的员工也希望如此吗？
Workhuman为《财富》杂志进行的一项调查表明，在1000名接受调查的全职员工中，一半以上的人期待重返办公室工作。盖洛普管理咨询公司的调查显示，在美国，以某种身份远程办工的员工中有54%更喜欢混合办公模式，只有9%的人希望在办公室从事全职工作。
巴德姆斯说：“我认为，在疫情爆发之前，人们有这样一种误解——如果别人没有看到你在工作，你就没有在工作。我一直认为这种想法十分愚蠢。”她还说即便坐在办公室工作，她和她同事很多时候也没干成什么事情。（财富中文网）
译者：段茹雪
Amid an ongoing pandemic and the emerging Omicron variant, many large U.S. companies are second-guessing their return-to-work dates, either moving them back yet again, or admitting they don’t know when workers should expect to come back to the office.
Uber announced a hybrid model in September in which employees are required to come into the office for only a few days a week, but the company said in early December that no one would be asked to commute in until further notice. Apple and Google have suspended their return dates with no definite deadline.
But other companies have bet that a permanent remote model will work best for their employees going forward. Upwork, a digital platform with a $4.3 billion market cap and headquartered in San Francisco that connects freelancers with businesses looking for their services, decided to go permanently remote in May 2020. The company told Fortune that its remote model has given employees more flexibility and control over their working schedules, and has freed up money that the company previously spent on office space.
“The finance people are happy about that, the ‘people people’ are happy about that, and the business leaders are happy about that. Because we’re all leading this business together and really driving results through a team that is engaged and sees the company meeting them where they are,” said Zoë Harte, the company’s head of HR.
Upwork consists of 2,000 team members across 86 countries. Before the pandemic, almost all of Upwork’s freelancers (which make up 75% of its workforce) worked remotely, but only around 10% of full-time employees were remote. Now, 100% of their team operates remotely, employees and freelancers alike, with the option to work in an office should they choose to.
Part of the reason remote work might have been so successful for Upwork is because so many employees worked from home even before the pandemic hit last year. And even workers who came into the office were remote once a week for a tradition called “Work Online Wednesdays.”
“We already worked from home one day a week across the entire company. Because we feel like it’s really important for us to have empathy with team members who are distributed [remotely] all the time,” Harte said. She added that the company made the transition well because they already had the tools and the language to implement a new kind of normal that they had already developed during their weekly Wednesday, from leading virtual meetings to more intentional planning of in-office work.
There is mixed data about how employees feel working remotely. Only 11% of employees said they felt more productive working from home, according to a survey by 451 Research, a tech advisory firm, while the majority did not. And this 11% was largely made up of seasoned leaders who had previous experience with technology and remote working, according to a September 2020 report by data and analytics corporation S&P Global. However, another survey that tracked more than 30,000 workers between May 2020 and March 2021, found that 40% of workers noted feeling more productive at home than in the office during the pandemic, while only 15% said they were less productive than they were in the office, the Chicago Booth Review reported.
For Hanna Badmus, a legal advisor for Upwork, those virtual Wednesdays were one of the reasons she chose to join the company four years ago.
“When I was in the interview process, and a recruiter mentioned to me that we would have the opportunity to work from home on Wednesdays, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? Like, that’s a dream,’” she told Fortune.
When it was clear that COVID would become a pandemic in the U.S. in March of 2020, Upwork’s offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Calif., and Chicago shut down completely. Just two months later, the company announced that they had become permanently remote, with an option to work from the office for people who wanted to. In October 2020, they closed the Santa Clara office owing to a reduced need for in-person meeting spaces. Upwork gave only vaccinated employees the option to work in person in November 2021, almost a full year after they became a two-office company.
“I worried about it being so, kind of, extreme. Going from like one day to five days remote…It was a big shock, and I even had COVID,” said Cameron Roberts, a senior acquisition manager at Upwork who now lives in Miami.
“It’s kind of a surreal thing to have so much flexibility in front of you,” he added. “I think you really have to write down your priorities in life and assess what sort of schedule is going to work best to meet those priorities.”
One thing companies need to watch out for when transitioning to a remote-first model is the burden they might unintentionally place on employees’ shoulders, Kim Fulton, an employment expert with global consulting firm Kearney, told Fortune.
“Because it puts more autonomy and control in the hands of employees…employees are going to need to be able to manage their work/life balance more proactively, and really be able to establish and maintain those boundaries. And leaders need to work with employees in setting those and maintaining them going forward,” she said.
When Badmus realized remote work would be the permanent model, she remembers worrying she would lose unexpected opportunities to connect with colleagues.
“I have really strong relationships with people I just met over a cup of coffee, grabbing coffee in the kitchen or having lunch,” Badmus said of her time in the office pre-pandemic. When she began working completely digitally, the inability to meet people casually was jarring.
“Getting that ideal office space together kind of took time for me,” Roberts said. “I’m not gonna lie…I am, like, a very social person. It was a little hard. Adapting to not having all of those watercooler discussions.”
Badmus said she’s replaced her happenstance encounters with more intentional connection. If she is curious to get to know a colleague, she’ll ask to set up virtual coffee. Upwork has a program called “Glow Up” that brings together leaders who are people of color. Roberts said he’s part of an LGBT group called “Up and Out” that he celebrates holidays with. Through virtual programs like this, Badmus said she’s met people she wouldn’t have bumped into in person anyway.
The main benefit of remote work is deeper than flexibility, Fulton said. “What they’re really looking for is a greater sense of autonomy and control to actually decide when they’re in the office versus when they’re remote.”
“It really signals a higher degree of respect and trust for employees,” she added, about a company’s decision to try a hybrid or remote model.
Both Roberts and Badmus moved homes while working remotely. For Badmus, it was an opportunity to be closer to her family; pre-pandemic, she’d always had to live near her place of work.
“Knowing how much I can fulfill my love for travel and any other hobbies that I have, it would be hard to go back to the office or any sort of traditional nine-to-five work life,” Roberts said.
Upwork employees are still able to go into offices. But Badmus chooses when she’ll go in with great care.
“[If] I can have the opportunity to meet, like, 10 people from one team at a time, I would take that opportunity and hop into the office,” she said. Otherwise, she’s staying put in her at-home office, which is more conducive to private calls she needs to make as an attorney.
While Upwork declined to comment how much it saved by closing an office and reallocating funds, it did confirm that the company used that money to invest in new software and the remodeling of its two remaining office spaces. Employees were also given $1,000 stipends for their home offices, and a coworking stipend for third-party workspaces that require a membership fee.
Upwork says a full remote model is functioning well, but do other workers want this?
Out of the 1,000 full-time workers who responded to a survey Workhuman conducted for Fortune, over half are looking forward to a return to the office. And based on surveys conducted by management consulting firm Gallup, 54% of employees in the U.S. that work remotely in some capacity would prefer a hybrid model. Only 9% want to go back to the office full-time.
“I think, before [the pandemic] people used to have that misconception that if people couldn’t see you working, you weren’t working, which I just always thought was hogwash,” Badmus said, adding that both she and her colleagues had plenty of unproductive moments in the office anyway.
