WORKPLACE & EMPLOYMENT LAW
PHOTO BY TERENCE DUFFY
When remote work doesn ’ t work
A lot can go wrong . Last year , San Francisco startup Chef Robotics missed a key product deadline by a month because its remote team of engineers had trouble integrating and testing software and hardware at a distance , according to a Wall Street Journal report . The chief executive said problems that took an hour to solve when everyone was in the office took a day when they were remote . In the end , the company gave up on remote work and moved to a bigger office to get everyone on-site .
In her 2021 book “ Remote Work Revolution : Succeeding from Anywhere ,’’ Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley describes a remote-work failure at one of the country ’ s fastest-growing real estate companies . When a sudden dip in interest rates brought in a flood of new customers , the virtual team tasked with processing loans got behind . One customer Neeley profiled lost his loan because of the long delay . It all happened because the company didn ’ t reorganize its remote work procedures to meet surges in customer demand , she writes .
Some virtual workers are struggling . The number with mental health issues is spiking as they spend more time alone and companies have trouble keeping teams connected , says Renee John , Valley Vision ’ s 21st Century Workforce project leader . Employees have kids learning from home , making it tough to focus . In the new environment , some companies don ’ t have metrics to measure performance and productivity , she says .
Then there ’ s the legal risk . Under California law , employers must provide a “ safe and healthful ” workplace whether staff are at the office or at home , says Mike Letizia , president and CEO of Stockton-based Letizia HR Solutions . So if someone working at home trips and breaks a leg while answering a work call , it ’ s a potential workers ’ compensation claim . The insurer will ask whether the company inspected the employee ’ s work site and made sure unsecured cords were taped down . The answer had better be yes , says Letizia , a former director of CalSHRM , the state affiliate for the Society for Human Resource Management .
Keeping productivity high
Still , the early returns from the pandemic ’ s remote-work experiment indicate employees can be as productive as before or more . In a survey last year by international employee health care and investment consulting firm Mercer , more than 90 percent of employers said productivity had stayed the same or improved with staff working off-site . “ The productivity of the bank has been really exceptional during this period ,” says Stephen Fleming , president and CEO of River City Bank , and a member of the Comstock ’ s Editorial Advisory Board . “ So there really hasn ’ t been a compelling reason to
40 comstocksmag . com | January 2022