Coming out of the forced-remote period is getting messy: mandates to return to the office, forced working from home, diversity at a global level in how remote work is regulated, plus the ever-evolving technology! Recorded on 19 April 2023, this episode also includes guests Guy Van Leemput and Patrick Van Renterghem, organisers of the Brussels Digital Workplace conference.

We begin the conversation with the recent news that JP Morgan has called all managing directors back to the office. While this might be old news by the time the episode is released, it highlights what’s been going on in many organisations: the people making the decisions of whether remote work should continue in an organisation haven’t experienced themselves (due to the nature of their work for example) a stable, sustainable version of remote work.

Let’s not forget that productivity, creativity and connection wasn’t something always present in office-based organisations, but it’s easy to blame “remote” when things get difficult. (Mind you, it seems like last year wasn’t that bad for JP Morgan…) Recent coverage of the fall of Silicon Valley Bank also blamed remote work for its failure - never mind the context (including the fast-spread of news) in which the bank was operating in… (Are we going back to 2017, to the days of Yahoo and IBM calling people back to the office…?)

We’re not the only ones talking about this, in the episode from 5 April 2023 of After Hours, one of the guests said “Wait until the office leases run out, then we’ll see an increase in flexibility”. When leases run out for business in the near future, will we see a different set of decisions being made?

15.20mins

Even if a business wants to embrace the work from anywhere mindset, hiring globally is not that easy. The article “Work-From-Home Regulations Are Coming. Companies Aren’t Ready” outlines a range of approaches, and all the small differences emerging in legislation.

For example, Spain and Germany have different approaches to the legislation. in Colombia, there are three distinct regulations for teleworking, working from home, remote work. The Philippines is revising its Telecommuting Act with specific refinements for IT sector.
Uruguay: teleworking law employee and employer to agree on a disconnection schedule, to go in contract.

Argentine, Chile, Peru guarantee worker's right to disconnect.

Ontario, Canada employers need a written policy on employee disconnection.

Then there’s all the “right to disconnect” laws…

And we’re already seeing law suits for not reimbursing expenses, and even someone who was wrongfully fired for refusing to keep their webcam on for several hours a day!

There are of course business that will help with this, such as the Work from Anywhere team.

So, with all this, how will initiatives like these account for tax? A cruise line is offering Digital Nomads a round the world trip, in this ship fully equipped for remote workers!

26.50mins
With all of these changes, conferences seem like good places to stay up to date with what’s going on.

Pilar is going to be speaking at the Digital Work Place conference in Brussels, on 1 June 2023. (Pilar’s session is not the only one on asynchronous communication!)

We have the honour of having the organisers of the conference, Guy Van Leemput and Patrick Van Renterghem on the show for this episode.

The conference has changed since its first edition in 2018. It brings together people from HR, IT and Internal Communications, the most important stakeholders in a digital workplace project.

This year the themes are Evolution and Revolution. Some technology and practices are evolving (eg intranets, Microsoft, Google, hybrid work, etc), while some are creating a revolution in the workplace, like generative AI.

The programme of the conference showcases different examples of organisations transitioning to new ways of working, as well as looking at current and future trends.
Content will cover from the transformation of Dutch bank Rabobank, covered in the opening key note, to the closing session by a Digital Nomad.

Meanwhile, Maya is going to take part in Running Remote (which will have taken place by the time this episode goes out). The conference has been running since 2018 and brings together different levels of “remote” - from large enterprises to the more “hard-core” remote advocates.

41.35 mins

Next up, our segment on tech. We focus today on Dion Hinchcliffe’s article How Leading Digital Workplace Vendors Are Enabling Hybrid Work. The article shows how much tech companies are investing in hybrid tools (mainly to enable meetings to take place), which will hopefully solve the issue of having to mandate people to go to the office.

Our guests Patrick and Guy have been keeping an eye out on the evolution of tools, like Chat GPT, but also around automation and low-code. Tech can help lower the barrier to knowledge. Patrick is keeping an eye out on Microsoft Loop, the missing link in their collaboration ecosystem; and expects Zoom to acquire more companies to help the platform widen their offer, and broaden their collaboration features beyond meetings.

All of this can make it challenging for people in organisations, as the technology is evolving and changing at a fast speed.

53.30mins
To wrap up, we share one of our listener’s take aways from episode 325 Who’s Up for Head of Remote?. Not just any listener, because she sent us the question that prompted the whole episode!

THANK YOU, SCARLETT!!!!

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WLP327 What's Going On: It's Messy, It's Complicated and It's Evolving Fast

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