Remote work, a post-pandemic staple, might soon be “let go” by some Dallas business owners.
Erik Radle, the CEO of Miller Ad Agency, is currently reevaluating the effectiveness of his hybrid schedule.
Radle’s company has served the Dallas Metroplex for 38 years. In that time, it has created an impressive portfolio, from interactive M&M ad campaigns to catchy Lute Riley Honda jingles.
When COVID-19 hit, he sent his staff of 25 to work from home. Radle brought back his team in the spring of 2021 and adopted a hybrid model where employees worked from home one or two days a week.
However, Radle is evaluating whether or not to continue this flex schedule.
“I don’t think working from home serves us,” Radle told The Dallas Express. Because people’s schedules do not align, “it’s really tough to get the entire tribe together and feel the culture,” he explained.
A recent meta-analysis published by American psychologists found that remote workers are more lonely and less able to develop deep interpersonal connections with each other. When employees feel less connected to one another, they may become withdrawn and less productive: a phenomenon known as “quiet quitting.”
Although it has been argued that quiet quitting has been around for a long time, remote work may have led to employee burnout and decreased productivity for some.
Recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data showed that American workers’ productivity had dropped to its lowest levels since 1947, as reported by The Dallas Express.
To instill a sense of community within the workforce, Radle developed a monthly staff book club. In the long term, Radle said, this was “band-aids and patches” for the traditional five-day workweek.
A recent study showed that remote workers may have worked 18% longer than those working in a traditional office setting. In that time, however, output decreased by 8–19%.
Productivity is a primary concern of Radle’s.
“It’s really easy working from home to simply wander to the office no matter what time of day it is,” said Larry Paschall, CEO and sole proprietor of Spotted Dog Architecture, to The Dallas Express.
Paschall, a Dallas-based architect who specializes in modern renovations and home additions, worked from home occasionally but switched to working at home full-time after the spring of 2020. Last year, he decided to sublet an office space once again.
“I just needed to separate work from home,” Paschall explained. “I’m getting up. I’m getting ready. I’m getting into the car and driving to the office. It’s just that whole process of coming in, sitting down, and getting into that work mindset.”
While Paschall missed going into the office, others feel remote work suits them better. Radle described this as a “tale of two cities.”
This dichotomy perfectly encapsulates the divergence in personality between Paschall and his husband, James. Paschall’s husband has worked remotely for the past 12 years.
“[James] loves working from home,” Paschall said. “I mean, I have never heard anyone complain more when he had to put on pants and go downtown to the office.”
Paschall’s husband is not alone in his love for remote work.
“Many workers have reevaluated their priorities since the beginning of 2020, at the outset of COVID,” said Robin Erickson, vice president of human capital at The Conference Board.
“Employees are demanding to retain the flexibility they gained from being required to work remotely,” she explained. “Now when looking for a job, workers are weighing a variety of factors unique to them and their needs.”
Due to pushback from workers, employers are reticent to change their in-person requirements despite fearing workers are less productive. A survey of 2,300 full-time employees claimed that 39% of workers would quit if no longer able to work remotely.
Despite these statistics, Radle is “not scared” and plans to eventually shift his workers back to the office full-time.
“That probably makes me a little old school and shrinks my hiring pool a little bit,” admitted Radle. However, his business is “relationship-driven. It’s contact-driven. It’s people-driven … we have to be together to work at our highest level.”
Moreover, Radle noted that many employees yearn to return to the traditional workplace.
“There are people coming right out of college, and they don’t want to go to their apartment or their parent’s house,” Radle observed.
“It feels good to be back in the office,” Paschall observed.
