I see it celebrated on LinkedIn by colleagues all over my timeline: #HomeOffice for all and forever at Novartis, Siemens and more! We're finally FREE from our annoying commutes, FREE from our terribly distracting open offices and some might very much enjoy that they are finally FREE from observation.
I personally enjoy the freedom of working from home: although I work more net hours (and I believe also more efficiently), due to the flexibility and avoidance of a lengthy commute I do have more time for my kids, for sports, even to write again. I'm literally liberated and I love it.
...however, as managers we have to consider a less convenient fact for our employees and ourselves: if a team completely works from home, why would one need them to live in Switzerland or any other expensive country with its high salaries? If we are all virtual, we just have to be online at similar hours, our many excellent virtual tools do the rest.
As classical liberals should embrace all the opportunities of true #Globalization, citizens and profiteers of this beautiful country's high salaries, excellent work and lifestyle environment have to acknowledge and face the consequences coming with it: #TotalHomeOffice now literally tears down all borders. As we all communicate in English anyway, #recruitment doesn't need to consider location so much anymore. Why would a global player need people from #Basel or #Munich, as they can be employed by any subsidiary anywhere in the world? With flexibility on time, they can work from the Americas or APAC but even in the same timezone as Basel everywhere from #Tromsø through #Tripoli to #CapeTown.
#HomeOffice goes way beyond a more liberal style of working and personal freedom, it will present a massive challenge for investment promotion such as Switzerland Global Enterprise or Basel Area Business & Innovation and our local and national governments. Our political representatives at Kanton Basel-Stadt and beyond have to face the fact that localization soon could mostly come with the benefit of corporate tax return while loosing benefits of a high salary workforce from local housing to spending. Kanton Basel-Landschaft for example so far mainly profits from the latter, from commuters and expats more than corporate tax. What if all these employees don't live here anymore, don't spend their money on tax in Binningen, Oberwil, Liestal but in Gdansk, Zagreb, Palermo or Khartoum?
Protectionism won't be a solution, it will not keep workforce or income tax, it will essentially just drive away corporate tax as little else will keep large corporations. Trying to avoid the change will neither be the right, nor the successful way as we learn from all global shifts throughout history. This is happening and we have to find innovative ways to adapt, but we also must face the fact that this will probably the biggest challenge for our workforce so far. The "opportunity cost" of our freedom of working here in the high-paid West will be a more balanced and equalized global salary structure. It will come as a huge opportunity to educated and motivated workforce in poorer countries and if we care more about justice and equal rights than soothing our ego, we must embrace this - as well as the fact that we Swiss, Germans, Americans, Singaporeans etc. with our high salaries will need another USP than the place where we live to survive and thrive with our less fortunate colleagues around the globe.
#TotalHomeOffice is a massive opportunity for the less fortunate, for more global equality and growth, for constructive competition and improvements. But high-salary employees especially in management will have to do much more to keep their jobs from now on: this will be an exciting race and it will expose us all to real, total competition, to the best all over the world no matter their origin, background and fortune.
That Head of Sales from #Bukarest might be as educated and experienced as you are, but are you as battle-hardened, as dedicated to thrive, as hard working? Yes, you're free from observation but you'll need to realize that #HomeOffice doesn't need controlling tools, it will lead to a natural selection of the best by winnowing the unfit and the lazy.
Better make sure you're up for the challenge.
Disclaimer: I do write independently and do not represent the views of my employer.
