Why Managers Fear a Remote-Work Future
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Why Managers Fear a Remote-Work Future

Ed Zitron
The Atlantic, 2021
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9

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  • Controversial
  • Analytical
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Steven Spielberg didn’t want movies released on streaming sites to be eligible for the Oscars. Midway through 2021, he relented and signed a deal with Netflix. His conflict with the movie industry’s future parallels the debates over having a remote or in-person workforce. Writing in The Atlantic, PR firm CEO Ed Zitron strongly states his case for remote work and questions leaders’ mandates to the contrary. As the old guard presses for in-office workers, many employees find they prefer remote or hybrid work. The “optics” of a busy office are gone, Zitron writes, replaced by the ability of leaders to see who is productive versus who just seems to be.

Summary

Modern realities in the movie industry mirror what’s happening in business. 

Steven Spielberg didn’t want movies released on streaming sites to compete at the Oscars because he believed people need to experience them in a theater. Netflix pushed back with its ideal of giving “everyone, everywhere” access to the new movies. In mid-2021, Spielberg relented, signing a deal with Netflix. The reality of the modern world won.

This conflict between the “old guard” and new disrupters also is taking place in boardroom discussions about remote, hybrid or in-office work. Ironically, Netflix’s Reed Hastings, who upended the movie industry, believes there is no positive aspect to having people work remotely, except when it comes to himself. He doesn’t even have an office.

If you, like Hastings, see remote work as “a pure negative,” perhaps it’s time to examine your own behavior...

About the Author

Ed Zitron is the CEO of the technology PR firm EZPR and writes the Where's Your Ed At newsletter.  

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