Thread by @chris_herd

For the last 6 months, people have said that hybrid is the future of work. There is widespread belief that companies and workers agree

The problem?

They don’t

The hybrid explosion is coming ⏰💣

Ask a company what they mean when they say hybrid

They will likely tell you some version of:

“We expect people to come into the office Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, and Friday. They have to be there 9-5”

Ask their teams what they mean when they say hybrid and they will tell you that:

“Hybrid means being able to go into an office if/when I want to, and work the hours that suit my lifestyle”

Massive divide…

When both sides say hybrid, reports emerge that there is agreement

But there never has been. Massive resentment is coming here as a result

When companies spend 20 months sending monthly surveys asking what their teams want, those teams expect to be listened to

They’re being ignored and sold a version of hybrid they don’t want

As this becomes clear people are immediately looking at their options

We are about to see the highest period of turnover in history between companies

Workers are searching for companies that enable them to live the lives they choose

They’ve seen they can work remotely over the last 18 months, you can never put that genie back in the bottle

This is a new industrial revolution

Only, it isn’t about the future of work

Remote is about enabling billions of people globally to access a higher quality of life

Remote work is the bridge to that

Companies that don’t see this are doomed

They won’t die overnight but across the next decade they will bleed their best people, struggle to attract great talent, and be crushed by more talented competitors

Amazon never beat physical stores overnight, but they did eventually

Remote companies vs. Physical companies is a replay of this

Any company less remote than its biggest competitor will lose to them

Any company that refuses to listen to their people today won’t be able to retain them tomorrow

Another misconception that’s growing

“People will go back to offices”

Ask companies:

- how much office space they have
- how many leases they’ve let expire
- what % of workers do they have space for

They don’t have space to go back to!

There is no path back to the way things used to be

Remote work has lasted for so long that going back to the office is the thing that require change

Habits and behaviours have calcified

Nobody is going back to a 2H daily commute

People have left the cities their offices are in

Many would rather quit than go back

Many will

This is an ultimatum to companies everywhere