Blue Ridge Technology

Some bosses think their people do less when working from home We’re all getting more familiar with remote and hybrid work — whether we want to or not. The pandemic was the initial catalyst for many businesses going remote, and those immediate health crisis concerns are more or less behind us now. But a good percentage of employees who got the taste of working from home really, really don’t want to come back to the office full-time. So the question many business owners are asking now is this: is work from home helping or hurting productivity and the bottom line? Big corporations are divided: Apple and Google want people back in the office, even though many employees are vocally pushing back (or even resigning). Other firms (like Twitter ) have announced they never plan to return to an in-office requirement for most roles. To help shed some light, another big tech firm — Microsoft — commissioned a serious, wide-ranging survey on the topic. What they found may or may not surprise you, but...

Is working from home really good for your business? If you’re like most of our clients, work from home showed up in a big way thanks to COVID — and it’s not going away. The truth is, there’s just a lot to like about having the option to work from home at least some of the time. Well, from the employee’s perspective, at least. If you’re an office-oriented, creative, or knowledge-economy sort of business, work from home can work, and it can work well. (And at this point, the cost of not offering it? You could lose team members if you don’t.) Still, nearly three years in, many companies are discovering that WFH isn’t all roses and puppy dogs. There are perks and advantages, sure. But there are challenges, too. For many businesses — maybe yours too — the best approach is offering it, but doing it with both eyes open, staying aware of the costs and the potential downsides that can crop up. Let’s talk about the IT-related challenges as well as some hidden costs that can crop up with permanen...