Is remote the past or the future of work?

After the Covid surge, has remote work recently gotten unpopular in 2023?

Many large tech companies have now turned their backs on remote work. Remote work would decrease productivity, hurt the company culture, generate silos... leading to reestablishing back to the office policies in many tech companies.

How much of this stands and how much can be mitigated? This session will explore good practices from the field and actionable testimonials that can help make remote work fine both for employers and employees.

Transcript

1. Is remote the past or the future of work? December 2023
2. Caroline Leroy Chief People Officer Platform.sh Fred Plais Chief Executive Officer Platform.sh
3. 43 Nationalities 267 Cities 35 Countries 20 Time zones 310 Platformers Europe: 50% APAC: 12% North America: 34% South America: 2% Africa: 2% 9 Regions Platform.sh: international & work from home since 2015
4. Do you remember these?
6. Remote work is declining rapidly Percentage of households with one worker operating remotely 37% 26% KPMG 2023 CEO Outlook 65% of CEOs want to get their employees back at the office for 5 days a week 2022 2023 Down 13 points in 1 year
7. Factors contributing to back-to-office mandates 3 official reasons 1. Decreased productivity 2. Hurts company culture 3. Teams become more siloed Source: SHRM Research survey of 1,542 HR professionals, June 2023
8. Factors contributing to back-to-office mandates 3 unofficial ones? 1. Lack of trust 2. Lack of know-how about how to do remote properly 3. Manager’s nostalgia of the good old times
9. Factors contributing to back-to-office mandates 3 unofficial ones? 1. Lack of trust 2. Lack of know-how about how to do remote properly 3. Manager’s nostalgia of the good old times
10. Symfony community • 18 years • 3,572 contributors to the code
11. Symfony community core team Top 30 live in 22 different cities and 12 different countries TOP 30 contributors
13. Why remote works well in an open-source community like Symfony 1. It’s by design 2. It’s flexible 3. It has the right setup
14. Introducing Upsun Powered by Platform.sh A single, self-service, fully managed PaaS to easily experiment, quickly iterate, and confidently deploy applications at scale
15. A global team that thrives on collaboration ◼ A remote organization from day one, Platform.sh follow-the-sun teams spend our days (and nights) supporting customers, partners, and each other. ◼ Highly collaborative. Passionate. Dedicated. Inclusive. ◼ You can find us in most parts of the world, come rain or shine (as you might imagine, we gravitate toward the latter).
17. Learnings from the Upsun project about working remote 1. Solve conflicts upfront 2. Set clear objectives, timelines, deadlines 3. Use async communications and tools 4. Expertise over location 5. Follow-the-sun productivity
18. The Platform.sh remote work’s secret sauce Healthy fundamentals • You need to trust people • Remote from the onset helps • Being clear and transparent
19. The Platform.sh remote work’s secret sauce Being intentional • Culture and sense of belonging routines • Management relationship • Supportive organization • Effective communication
20. The remaining challenges of remote For companies • Some demanding fundamentals • Junior profiles are harder to onboard For employees • A high level of autonomy is required • Mental health risks exist • Some in-person interactions needed
21. We predict remote is here to stay It’s a win-win for companies • Tap into a larger and international talent pool • The productivity is not lower • More diverse and inclusive workforce • Better for the climate • Can reduce employees’ attrition
22. We predict remote is here to stay It’s a win-win for employees • Flexible work location is high for candidates • A standard for younger generations • Better employee quality of life
24. Thank you!