So I saw someone do one of those LinkedIn surveys that asked if you would take a 20% pay cut to work…
Joshua C. — Director of Cybersecurity
So I saw someone do one of those LinkedIn surveys that asked if you would take a 20% pay cut to work remotely. #unpopularopinion: Location matters.
REALTORS® say it. Return-to-office or RTO advocates say it; heck, even some "leadership gurus" say it.
Location. Location. Location.
But when we talk about work, we need to stop pretending location is automatically a productivity strategy.
For some people, the office is great. They focus better. They collaborate better. They like the structure.
For others, the office is a productivity tax. Commute time. Noise. Interruptions. Forced social energy. Performative presence.
And let's not pretend that the office is free.
Office space costs money. Utilities cost money. Parking, furniture, badge systems, cleaning, insurance, physical security, coffee, conference rooms, and facilities all cost money..lots of it. I have seen it with some orgs be a larger slice of the budget than entire departments.
So when leaders frame remote work as expensive but ignore the fixed cost of maintaining office space, they are not doing P&L analysis. They are doing bad nostalgia math.
And now we have research putting language around what a lot of people already suspected. Some of the return-to-office push is not about productivity.
It is about power.
A recent organizational behavior study literally titled “Worship me at the office altar; Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work.” Yes...that is the real name of it...found that leader narcissism was associated with resistance to remote work because remote work threatens power and status.
That should make every board, CFO, HR, and frankly every leader pause.
Because if your location strategy is based on collaboration, mentorship, customer outcomes, regulatory requirements, need to access physical equipment, or role-specific performance data, great. Make the case. It should speak for itself.
But if the real driver is “I need to see my people,” “I don’t trust them unless they are in the building,” or “leadership feels more real when I have an audience,” "I need to have the office with all the bells and whistles," then call it what it is.
That is not culture.
That is control and ego.
Remote work is not magic either.
The fantasy that companies can suddenly get “Silicon Valley talent” for “backwoods Arkansas money” is also bullshit. Talent knows what it is worth. Markets adjust. People talk. Salary data exists. Some people only really thrive when they can feed off the energy of the "bull pit."
The real question is not office versus remote.
The real question is: Where does this person, in this role, doing this work, create the most value? That is when and where they should work.
BL: Location matters. But pretending one location works best for everyone is not strategy. It is ego with a badge reader.
unpopularopinionguy
3 reactions · 0 comments
Topics: #unpopularopinion