Remote Work Transformation: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Table of Contents
Introduction
When I started working as a professional software engineer in 2013, the concept of remote work was virtually unheard of. My previous employers treated it as non-existent. When I suffered a sports injury and offered to work from home instead of taking sick leave, I had a very unpleasant phone call with a former boss who ordered me to come back to the office immediately. He told me that someone had complained about me having this privilege that nobody else had. So I took sick leave instead, and he was not too happy about that, either. Fast-forward to a global pandemic, and the tides of work culture were forcefully altered.
The good
HR Shenanigans
While my experience matched the numbers published by Eurostat - 1 in 20 employees worked in a remote environment - things changed after I was hired at a fintech company. Here, all of us were allowed to work from home on Fridays. There were plans to revoke that privilege. As a first step, older employees were told that their contractually obliged two days per week (contracts from the 80s and 90s were wild in large IT companies, especially fintech) was to be cut to one day, due to unspecified corporate reasons. Literally the same week, a well-known illness struck, and everything changed.
Initially, we still had to show up physically but were urged by HR to take our company-issued laptops back home every day in case of a lockdown. There were the most creative reasons when it comes to workers’ rights forcing us to do that, but I won’t go into detail here. I didn’t mind, as we had also received a nice backpack upon joining years ago. Then doomsday came, and we were not allowed to go outside anymore.
The company flipped the switch, and it was full remote work from then on. You could really feel the tension in the beginning; everybody seemed to be overly present to signal, “Hey! I’m a very productive employee and work very hard.” I was skeptical at first because we did not really hear anything from HR. Their first email during the lockdown was a nice reminder for us to punch out for smoke breaks even if we were working from home. That gave me a good laugh at least, and I considered starting to smoke as a non-smoker.
I know a better tool!
Hardware-wise, we were set, but when it comes to tools, it was like the wild west. Someone suggested Webex (we mostly stuck to that), others wanted to set up MS Teams (“How much is it for companies?”), while others insisted on using Zoom. I had to install an impressive set of software for collaborating with my team members. I’m sure I forgot some of the stuff we used sporadically. But we made it work! As far as I remember, there were no major VPN or infrastructure outages (kudos to the admin team). We were still able to deliver without any major hiccups; splendidly.
At the beginning of 2021, management presented numbers showing that we were on time with all projects company-wide and that productivity was blooming—two things that never occurred in the pre-remote working era. The uppers decided to fully commit to work from home, including shrinking the company’s real estate property collection with a prediction of 30% cost reduction.
The bad
Who pays for that?
In the meantime things have changed and I do not work there anymore. Job hunting from home was—and still is—a weird experience. On the positive side, I had a reason to keep my apartment tidy. But there are still unanswered questions for me. For example, my utility costs rose due to me suddenly being home the whole day. My energy consumption increased. My water consumption increased. Who is paying for that?
In the C-suite’s presentation, they showed 30% cost reduction for the company. Costs rarely disappear. Now with inflation and energy prices skyrocketing due to yet another post-Covid crisis, it’s pretty clear that employees who work from home are footing the bill. My salary did not increase when I was sent home. On the job market, remote jobs do not offer a higher salary than on-site jobs. On the contrary, for freelance projects, I observed that the hourly rate is 10-20% lower when insisting on working from home.
To add some numbers, the annual statement showed 882 kWh energy consumption in 2019, rising to 1138 kWh in 2020 and 1672 kWh in 2021. I managed to reduce it to 1295 kWh by dramatically downsizing my setup. I don’t have a large computer monitor at home anymore. In essence, I have less equipment available for work while paying more at the same time, regardless of actual energy prices. I can deduct a 300 Euro lump sum from my taxes annually but that does not make up for the increased utility costs. Mitigating a fraction of the costs to the government can’t be a long-term solution.
Now, there is a weird situation where I am basically obliged to work from home when asked to—as opposed to before 2020, when I had to beg for that—and on the other hand, remote jobs seem to earn me less because I work from home. A goodie became an obligation.
Chaos ensues
Naturally, policies on remote work vary between companies. One potential employer I interviewed with insisted on me showing up in person for the third round. Being interviewed in a room full of masked people is an even weirder experience than being on camera at home. They also insisted on their employees showing up in the office. This was in 2021 when the whole ordeal was far from over.
In other companies, a hybrid model prevailed. The World Economic Forum suggests that by 2030, 25% of the workforce will work in a remote arrangement. In 2023, 22% of EU workers had a remote work environment.
Today, I am still unsure about the whole situation. When comparing myself to others, I am of course blessed to be allowed to decide where to work from. In my current company, nobody bats an eye when I decide to work from home for the day, mainly because we are spread across the globe. When I show up in the office, there usually isn’t anyone I know, and I am forced to sit in a big room full of noisy strangers. Of course, all offices have been rebuilt to open office spaces in favor of smaller rooms because insurance companies pretend that they are Spotify now.
The ugly
Recent observations
Of course, the presumed innocence applies and backing that claim is impossible, but given the projected IT sector growth for 2020-2030 by the US Department of Labor, and the firing spree in 2023, it’s clear that either some miscalculation happened or US companies took hire-and-fire to supply increased demand in IT infrastructure to a whole new level.
The shift to remote work removed the constraint of being present on-site. Now that the infrastructure has been set up, I am concerned to see that some companies try to leverage that against the local job market. They repeat their mistake from the 90s and try to offshore technical talent again. That did not work out in the past and will fail again. Software projects require more than just writing code. You cannot throw manpower from a so-called “low-cost center”—a thriving misanthropic term that I loathe—against a problem and expect it to disappear. As a developer, you need constant discourse with your colleagues. You need to have your solutions challenged. You need to challenge the solutions of others. That needs to happen continuously. That’s only possible when your team shares a certain level of experience and motivation.
Social implications
For my next point, I need to go far afield. The EU announced a tariff on cheap Chinese electric cars. The local industry completely ignored the demand for affordable compact EVs and is now acting surprised when somebody else steps in to satisfy it. If well-connected manufacturers fear losing revenue, we interfere with the rules of the global free market. When my position gets offshored, the company responsible is not fined one cent. Why? When companies cut well-paid jobs and offshore them, who is supposed to buy their products?
Offshoring will cost society in the long run. Offshored workers do not pay taxes here. They do not contribute to social security. They do not spend their income on local goods. The Austrian economy recently endured two major crises and forecasts predict a recession for at least one year. The current IT job market offers fewer opportunities than during Covid. Having enjoyed working fully remote for more than four years, these negative aspects have sobered my expectations for the coming years.
Conclusion
Reflecting on my journey through remote work, it is clear that while it brought about significant changes and challenges, it also showcased the resilience and adaptability of employees and companies alike. To ensure a balanced and productive work environment, it’s essential to address the financial implications for workers and continue refining remote work practices. Moving forward, I am cautiously optimistic about the future of remote work and the opportunities it presents.