Working Remote vs. In-Office: Will the Controversy Ever End?

Do lower income taxes help or hurt the economy? Is it better to be liberal or conservative? Should we worry about gas mileage when buying a car? Does AI pose a risk to civilization? Nature or nurture? Which way should toilet paper hang?

These issues are endlessly debated and have no “answer.” Let’s add another that is hotly debated: working in the office vs. remotely.

Let’s set the scene

Before the pandemic, 80% or more of work hours were spent in an office vs. remote. At most firms, this was at or near 100%. A large percentage of remote work was performed as special, earned accommodation of people with special needs such as those working out-of-state and highly experienced, competent working parents raising young children.

Then came the pandemic in March 2020. To say that Covid changed the world, let alone the CPA profession, is a gross understatement. At Covid’s onset, the vast majority of CPAs worked 100% remotely. This began to wane as safety protocols were developed and miracle vaccines were invented. Every MP I talk to says the CPA profession will never go back to pre-pandemic work practices. Most firms have settled into a hybrid model: some days in the office and some remote.

The ongoing debate

Proponents of remote work:

• Firms must face the new reality: Staff want to work remotely, and a depleted labor market means employees are in the driver’s seat. Current and prospective staff prefer to work for firms with a liberal remote work policy over those that don’t.

Managing staff with a “butts in seats mentality” doesn’t work anymore. Instead, firms must assess performance based on outcomes, regardless of where the work is performed.

• People can be just as productive working remotely because distractions are greatly reduced. Working face-to face with people is nice, but a lot of time is wasted, thus holding back productivity. The virtues of working with people in-person are overrated.
• Technology advances enable people to work just as efficiently on a remote basis as in-person. People who believe face-to-face is more efficient need to get it. Contrary to what many old-schoolers think, people can be just as efficient, if not more so, dealing with each other on Zoom or Teams.
• As a practical matter, remote work is essentially a benefit. (I know; many feel it is an entitlement, not a benefit.) Once a benefit is given, it cannot be easily, if at all, taken away without serious repercussions.

Proponents of working in-office:

• Public accounting is a people business. Lots of interaction is required with co-workers, supervisors and clients. Communicating via Zoom, email and texting will never be as effective as working in-person. Nothing beats the personal touch.
• Staff, especially younger ones, desperately need (whether they know it or not) the mentoring, training and career-building opportunities that come with working in the office, near managers who can easily stop by their desk and help them learn.
• Higher productivity without the distractions that come from working remotely (kids, laundry, pets, etc.).
• Staff tell firms that the best thing about their jobs is the people they work with. This flies in the face of the remote approach.

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Most of the remainder of this blog are excerpts from two excellent newspaper articles on remote work.

Roger Vincent of the Los Angeles Times, in a Jan. 4, 2024, article entitled, “A study’s surprise finding: Most workers want to be in the office more often.”

Office workers surveyed by an international architecture firm reported that people come into the office about half the time, but said they ideally needed to be there two-thirds of the time for their best productivity. The biggest gap between what employees do and what they should do is among younger generations. [Rosenberg: this is very telling.]

Workers in their 20s and 30s value the office as a place to focus on their work, socialize with colleagues, be part of a community and grow professionally. Said one millennial polled: “I am always learning new things in the office. It’s important for my growth and development.” [Rosenberg: I recently talked to a young man who I mentored in college. He is currently a first-year at a large CPA firm in a major city. He echoed this sentiment exactly.]

Due to a labor shortage in many businesses, [Rosenberg: including CPA firms], companies are constantly competing to attract and retain top talent and are more inclined to cater to younger workers, who like working remotely.

Rosenberg adds:

1. There are many repercussions with remote work:

• Many who would prefer to work more in the office find that when they do work in the office, “nobody’s there.”
• Tremendous amount of unused office space.
• One MP of a $12M firm told me that it’s a lot more difficult to get his partners in the office than the staff. This leads staff to reason why they should work in the office if leadership isn’t there.

2. Firms need to make sure that when staff do come in, they get the benefits of doing so. Thankfully, many firms now design their remote work policies to address this.

Tara Schwegler, in a Jan. 4, 2024, article in the Chicago Tribune entitled, “Why are companies refusing to fully embrace flexible work?”  (It should be noted that Schwegler is an anthropologist.)

Many companies are resisting remote work and other flexibility policies. They cite:

• Concerns with productivity. Many CEOs imply that people seeking flexibility are doing so to dodge work. [Rosenberg: I don’t see this much among our CPA firm clients.]
• Remote work makes people feel like work is fun, leading them to be content with merely meeting rather than exceeding job requirements, resulting in a malaise of “quiet quitters.”
• New employees need to be in the office for in-person collaboration, training, mentoring and career development opportunities.

Companies with an enlightened management philosophy are considering innovative models that advance the twin goals of productivity and employee satisfaction. These models recognize that work-life balance is the mainstay of employee productivity. Employees are rewarded on outcomes rather than “butts in seats” and perceived commitment to work.

We must embrace bold new experiments in when, where, how and how much people work.

A final word

Several years ago, I attended a wedding. At the reception, I was seated at a table with several people I didn’t know. The lady sitting to my left asked me what I did and I told her I was in the public accounting business. She said: “How interesting. My son just changed his college major from anthropology to accounting.” I asked her why the change and she replied, “He took stock of his personality and decided that he was best suited to sitting behind a desk eight hours a day, doing his work with little people contact.” I ruined her evening by telling her, “Your son made a huge mistake. Accounting is all about working with people, learning from them, growing professionally and building relationships.”

Working remotely has an obvious allure and, in many cases, is a win-win for both personnel and the firm. But make no mistake, there are also problematic, unintended consequences of remote work. Is this just the way the world is?