According to the report “State of the Global Workplace 2025”, people working only remotely declare the highest commitment (31 %), while the global average is 21 percent. Among employees who are not able to work remote or hybrid work, this percentage drops to 19 percent.
However, there is a serious problem behind the success of productivity. People working from home more often feel stress, a sense of insulation and sadness. 45 percent of them declare stress for most of the day, 27 percent. He experiences loneliness, and 30 percent He talks about the sadness accompanying everyday work.
The level of stress and loneliness is the highest in the remote model. In hybrid work, loneliness affects 23 percent. employees, and only 20 percent of the stationary model These data indicate that the hybrid work model can be a compromise that combines the advantages of flexibility with a limitation of the negative effects of insulation.
Gallup experts define this paradox of remote work. In their opinion, this is the result of, among others lack of daily interactions, blurring boundaries between private and professional life and greater pressure on independent efficiency management.
Do we lose competences?
Joanna Tonkowicz, a certified coach of the strengths of Gallup, HR Business Partner and mentor of leaders and leaders, emphasizes that the problem is not in the very form of work, but in the immaturity of organizational culture and the lack of understanding of various styles of people's work.
– Remote, hybrid or stationary work is not bad in themselves, if they are well organized and supported by mature, self -aware lead. How it affects our welfare depends to a great extent on our dominant talents, work styles and organizational culture of the company – emphasizes Tonkowicz.
He adds that people with dominant relational talents may experience greater suffering in the remote model, while task people are doing better in isolation, although they can also lose social competences over time.
– It doesn't happen suddenly. It is a slow withdrawal from the contacts that previously developed us, although we have not always appreciated it – says the expert.
– Gallup's study confirms these observations: The physical distance from the team can turn into emotional distance over time. In extreme cases, employees say that “this is not a team, but a board with avatars.” There is a lack of spontaneous conversations, jokes, micro interactions that build a sense of community and belonging – explains Tonkowicz.
Leaders burn faster than their teams
Managers are in the most difficult situation. Their well -being during the year fell by five percentage points. The situation is particularly difficult for women in managerial positions and young people (under 35 years old).
According to Joanna Tonkowicz, one of the most serious mistakes of managers of remote and hybrid teams is the lack of work on self -awareness and the inability to adapt to new leadership models.
– Many leaders and leaders do not know their strengths or the talents of their teams. This translates into a lack of flexibility, a mismatch of management style and difficulties in building an environment in which people can act in harmony with their own potential – he explains.
– In practice, I also observe typical errors: micro -management, lack of feedback, ignoring fatigue and burnout, neglect of team rituals and excessive focus on tasks, not on people. Over the years, it has been repeated: “Be such a leader you would like to have.” Today I would say: “Be such a leader your people need,” adds the expert.
According to the report of the report, 70 percent Employee involvement depends on their supervisor. Leaders and leaders who have undergone coaching and managing dispersed teams improve their teams by up to 20-28 percent.
It's not about the workplace. It's about employees' relationships and needs
Martyna Pantak, Talent Success Lead in Softserve, believes that the key to the success of dispersed teams is the right balance and listening to the needs of employees. In a company employing talented professionals from the IT industry, remote work is seen as a key benefit, especially now when other technology companies are starting to demand returning to offices.
– Our employees appreciate the opportunity to work from home. I don't know anyone who would like to go back to the office permanently – he emphasizes. This is particularly visible among specialists working for clients from various time zones who value flexibility.
One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the fact that employees invested in home workplaces. – They have their offices, separate rooms, everything tailored to their own needs. Employees say that returning to the office is a reduction in their effectiveness – notes Pantak.
Return to the office? Only for something and someone
Some employees after a long period of remote work are difficult to return to work in the office. – There are people who have renewed from work among people. They write such a day for losses, because it is difficult for them to focus on a common space – adds an expert.
This is an additional challenge for the organization. How to create opportunities to build team ties while respecting preferences regarding the work model? Delicious meetings are effective outside of routine work: competence workshops, breakfasts or celebrations of important events.
– Next week, Azure Devops specialists from our team Cloud & Devop Practice organize all -day workshops on artificial intelligence. They will meet in our Wroclaw office to develop their competences in the AI area together.
Importantly, it is a bottom -up initiative of employees themselves, who see greater value in stationary meetings – they allow direct exchange of knowledge, experience and dynamic cooperation, which is often lacking in the online formula.
How to keep a team in a remote work model?
Experiences from the IT industry indicate several key success factors in the remote model. One of them is a separate work space.
– Without this, the boundaries are blurred, which in the long run simply does not work. It is best if the employee has a separate room from which he can leave and close it after work – emphasizes Pantak.
Regular, intentional offline meetings that build ties are also important. – We organize workshops, joint breakfasts, celebrations of important events. Employees know why they come to the office, who they meet and what they will do together – adds the expert.
Joanna Tonkowicz emphasizes that companies that effectively support the well -being of remote employees understand that hybrid cooperation is not translated 1: 1 from the stationary environment to remote. Requires cultural and technical change.
-It is worth introducing regular one-on-one meetings, a scorer that is not only status: weekly check-in mood or psychological support. Also, self -awareness tools, such as testing the strength of Gallup, help better understand how the team works in remote conditions – he emphasizes.
It is not a matter of a work model, but an organization's culture
Joanna Tonkowicz sums up: – Remote and hybrid work is not a fashion, but a social change. Whether it will strengthen well -being and commitment depends on the quality of leadership, communication and building relationships. Companies that focus only on the control and location of the work can meet with the outflow of talents or the phenomenon of “Quiet Quitting”, i.e. low commitment and making an absolute minimum in the workplace. The future of work does not depend on where we work, but when we build a community and a work culture that you want to come back to and does not have to.
