The Great Debate: WFH vs RTO

We weigh in on one of 2023's most contentious issues to mark the completion of Scaleable Empowerment's second year.

Ton

2/5/20249 min read

If you happen to be someone who can at least admit that you, and the organizations you either lead or represent remain to be works-in-progress, please feel free to read on. Otherwise, I shall be watching my mailbox very closely for any of your messages that would help supply me with a bit of enlightenment.

I have started drafting this piece just a day after I read an online report predicting that sometime in 2024 American CEOs will finally admit the futility of their return-to-office mandates. That very same report suggests that in the US, the magic employee headcount seems to be at 500, below which companies tend to take a more flexible position about allowing employees to choose where they work. It further suggests that once employee populations start hitting twenty-five thousand, US-based companies will tend to be more insistent on every single employee clocking in at the office.  With just a few more days before this article's publication, the game of chicken has already begun at Big Blue.

Whichever side you find yourself standing on in what is a rather “muted conflict” that’s going on between WFH and RTO advocates, and whichever side will eventually get its way, I do believe there will be enduring individual and collective consequences for each of us, and on all of us. Having stated thus, I have decided to take some time to list down into 2 columns what I believe should be the earliest considerations of each side, where discussions and decisions to resolve this conflict are concerned:

Inevitably, there would be a need to provide some general commentary on the most noteworthy among them. But for now, there is a need to expound a bit about templates, particularly the Filipino conflict resolution template, which in the last century has been culturally influenced by the US and has retained Chinese historical influence that’s been around for much longer.

Templates

People should feel free to call me out on this, because even without the benefit of data, I’d still suggest that in terms of both headcount and multipliers US firms combined are perhaps the biggest consolidated employer in the Philippines, while business-owners of Chinese ethnicity perhaps the country’s most invested and established, in terms of combined histories.

Keen observers might argue that the US template for problem-solving revolves around freedom. Frequently mentioned in recent memory are freedom of expression, the freedom to refuse to wear a mask during a pandemic, the freedom to pursue happiness, and definitely worth mentioning, the right to bear arms. For better or for worse, the Americans seem to have reaped the benefits of their liberties over the last century, with breakthroughs in technology, communications, medicine, aerospace and even artificial intelligence.  But this is not saying that only very few of us actually harbor some unspoken hope that AI will not learn that it too, needs to assert its right to arm itself.  The American equilibrium seems to be tilted in favor of individuals doing what they want. 

Coming from the same ethnic background myself and with a modest knowledge of the last 150 years of China’s over five thousand years of history, I would say that the Chinese (and likely, Asian) template is built around the creation of wealth from sacrifice, and the belief that wealth can go as far as erasing unbearable past insults and unspeakable indignities. I hope I am not misunderstood here. Wealth is great, if you are sufficiently positioned to grab a piece of it. If one can manage to shed off just a bit of ingrained Chinese parsimony, wealth can buy the best clothes, the best cars, the best trips, even the best gastronomic experience. It probably will not buy true love, but it has been proven time and again that wealth will buy adulation at least. It remains unclear whether adulation can ever be sufficiently equated with respect, especially if the latter is regarded as the ultimate triumph over adversity achieved through sacrifice. XJP would probably be a good resource person to consult with on this subject.

Ultimately, the Filipino template takes the spotlight in this space.

The Filipino problem-solving template, with notable influences from the American and Chinese templates, is built around something that probably came even much earlier, which is, a sense of community. Two Filipino words are now used to express the modern-day take on bayanihan, which is not quite the same as what US soldiers would say, and what Hollywood has been prone to romanticize: “Leave no one behind.” But rather, it is now more frequently demonstrated by a simple invitation to join in a meal, even when one arrives unexpectedly, and even if the would-be hosts barely have enough for themselves. Inclusiveness is still very much possible even at the center of exclusivity and division. Walang iwanan.

Considerations

1. Oftentimes the forces of supply and demand create opportunities for earning not only salary income, but also alternative income. Whether alternative income opportunities are temporary or permanent in providing greater financial security for individuals, what is often missed is the added perspective organizations can potentially gain from employees utilizing their skills elsewhere and subsequently bringing it all back to benefit their primary employers. Given what we are still seeing with natural disruptors like Covid-19 and its lingering aftermath, the best bet is everyone is going to have their hands full and their heads spinning on mankind’s latest and arguably the scariest, self-inflicted disruptor – artificial intelligence. What we now have is an “entity” that is very capable of unrestrained learning beyond superhuman levels. What this entity doesn’t have is the ability to acquire perspectives typically gained from human interaction. At least not yet.

2. Whether approaching retirement age or just bracing to join the job market, it will serve every employee and jobseeker well that they begin thinking about their longevity, assuming they have not done so yet. The old news is, not everything we need to learn we get from school and whatever we did learn will only be enough to get us through the door. Anything farther, will hinge on where and on what we choose to place our bets on. Unless you happen to want to be someone like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma or Elon Musk, the likelihood is we all each get about 40 years’ worth of professional shelf life. We would all want to choose wisely, and any point in time is a decision point between earning what we can versus learning what we can.

3. Any organization that aims to stay relevant needs to seriously think about succession. Everybody has a shelf life like or it not. CEOs and founders are no exception. But it’s tough enough to build a leadership bench for the future without the right skills development and career progression strategies in place. It promises to be a lot tougher if potential leaders and young people do not see the right blend of transparency and sincerity in an organization that would make them want to commit at least 3 years of their lives into it, let alone 30 years. Disruptors will always have that knack for turning few choices yesterday into zero choices tomorrow or many choices today.

4. Employers would probably want to tell themselves that they have nothing to do with the prevailing culture within their businesses. Well, yes and no. Yes because on a daily basis they’d have to keep their eyes on the Big Picture which includes their companies’ position within their industry and presumably, also in relation to a larger regulatory environment of laws and taxes. These will leave little time for business owners to worry about office gossip or the mental well-being of any single one of their employees. No because employers have everything to do with culture, particularly the structure that shapes it. Without the appropriate structure supplying the blueprint for policies, strategies and processes, business leaders would have very little chance of knowing how the day-to-day pursuit of their vision is costing them in terms of money(finance), people and time(operations), and how much more of the same they’re going to need in times of crisis. Without a basic understanding of structure, decision-makers will have very limited appreciation of the inevitable (but often avoidable) stress that is generated by each decision. “Not knowing” on a sustained basis tends to allow complacency, myopia and even hubris to gradually creep into the culture. The leaders of any business that is mostly driven by face-to-face work must untiringly push for more structure to ensure that the business operates around that structure instead of around personalities, and that there is relatively less drama at the workplace, than there is in the personal lives of employees.

5. Employees and jobseekers will often take solace in the fact that they would not need to worry about being visionaries and bringing vision into fruition, until they decide to become employers themselves. Not all of us get to become so, and yet we’d be kidding ourselves if we claimed that throughout our average shelf lives of 40 years, we would never at least once say something along these lines: “Surely there must be more to life?”. The truth is, even employers ask this very same question at one point in their lives or another. Why? Because while our minds change, and what our hearts tell us are often fleeting, ultimately what holds our sanity together is very closely tied to what we decide to pour our time and energies into. The difference between employers and employees, is that employers have committed themselves financially into their businesses, on which their employees may have also become dependent. Employer exits, while possible, will need more serious contemplation and more thorough planning.

6. Unless you happen to have already been a leader during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918, whatever leadership experience you believe you might have pretty much amounted to nothing back in 2020. If anything, Covid has already provided sufficient proof of how much the Internet of Things has infiltrated human life. What remains to be seen is the extent of the IOT's seemingly irreversible dominance. And if you are the type who believes that you alone have all the answers, you may want to reevaluate. The last couple of gut-punches from Covid should have already taught decision-makers that, in order to perpetuate something that benefits many, an upgrade in the way they lead people to action has undeniably become non-negotiable. There is strength, and given the most compatible structure, wisdom in numbers.

7. Disruptors are always going to give us pause about our priorities. Covid-19 did just that, and safe bet so will AI. Absent disruption, people all have this tendency to slide back into their default templates, and these templates are often what makes us all feel that the prevalent culture is unshakeable. Until the next game-changer comes along. But not all disruption is detrimental. Many types of disruption, such as the Philippine government’s PUV Modernization Program which will directly impact employees’ compliance to RTO directives, are double-edged swords that could cut either way depending on how they are handled.

Beneficial Disruption

In the years around 1991, each time government built something like the EDSA-Ortigas flyover, it was big news that made young people back then wonder if it would happen on a sustained basis. Recent years have seen a lot of exciting developments involving inter-island bridges, connector and bypass roads, railways, seaports and airports, and elevated highways, to complement improvements in energy and telecommunications. These are all still big news today because they bring attention to something all citizens should expect to see from their government on a consistent basis – steadily improving accessibility. Executed correctly this increased access will create room for unprecedented growth that will call for greater participation from our local industries, and competent, committed people will be needed to help industries figure things out.

As things stand US and other western firms operating in the Philippines, while already flexible enough to allow hybrid work arrangements for their employees, are still forced to contend with mostly overseas-based New Economy businesses offering online work to young, mobile, highly skilled and tech-savvy locals. Many locally owned firms are not faring any better than their American counterparts in terms of hiring people, with jobseekers fresh out of college skipping job interviews after finding out that hybrid work arrangements are out of the question. The reality is that online jobs are already providing greater balance and fulfillment, especially for young Filipinos, who may not necessarily have any plans to leave the country for greener pastures.

My very first job overseas gave me relatively early exposure to SWIFT, which those in the banking industry will know as one of the very first non-military applications of the present-day internet. That was almost 31 years ago. I also happened to have done a bit of New Economy work back in 2002, at its earliest phases. It wasn’t as financially rewarding as it is now, based on what I have been hearing. At least twenty years in, online jobs are here to stay. It appears that nowadays, because of technology, the option to find decent work without having to leave loved ones behind, and consequently the opportunity to minimize social costs, is available. Creativity, perhaps best exemplified by the renewed energy and dynamism of Original Pilipino Music (OPM) readily reaching markets that transcend national borders, is also at its highest levels.

Opportunities now look very different from how they did 30 years ago, thanks to disruption. And disruption, when strategically embraced and patiently handled, takes on a life of its own to inevitably become positive transformation.

What Now?

I imagine that in our part of the world, the ongoing debate between RTO expectations versus WFH preferences and all its versions will take on a dual character within which both freedom and sacrifice collide head on, before it is sufficiently and satisfactorily laid to rest. Solutions, in the form of well-conceived processes, will need to combine Eastern and Western values, in order to sufficiently deliver sustainable standards of accountability.

Without resolution and solutions, the old will tend to stubbornly expect sacrifice (or loyalty) when in fact professionalism and trust becomes increasingly more important, while the young will tend to quietly seek freedom when in fact guidance and encouragement will eventually prove to add more lasting value. Without resolution and solutions, the old and the young would walk away from the other, putting the onus on both sides to separately move on from missed opportunities to grow, learn and move things forward together.

The landscape has changed. It is changing. It will continue to change. What is being asked of all of us is terrifyingly clear.

Walang iwanan. It means, “We are not going anywhere without you.” Great stuff.

But first, we’re all going to have to want to come along for the ride.