We heard endlessly during lockdown of #WFH or Work From Home. About a week ago we were threatened by the UK Government (via a national newspaper) to ‘Go back to work or risk losing your job”, as if millions of people working from home were not working.
This Ad then appeared a few days ago from a leading disinfectant brand. They want us all to go “back to the office” so we can buy more of their product and tried to “sell this” with the messages above. Not inspiring.
Now, instead of any of this, please help get a new idea trending:
#WFA : Work From Anywhere
To start a conversation, back in May 2019 I wrote: ““WorkAnywhere”. Going beyond “Remote”“, noting that we can choose to:
..consciously operate a “WorkAnywhere” model, going beyond the idea that we can work remotely from a central office or HQ. For us to WorkAnywhere, we then leverage both the power of remote working with online tools as well as recognising the power of actually being in the same room as people and so investing in that time (and travel to do so) as a core element of WorkAnywhere life.
Yesterday I then wrote “The Future is Hybrid“, noting:
I have been dismayed at the lack of imagination of so many in making the idea of going back to the place of work or office as a binary choice, an “either/or“, you either go “back to work” or you don’t, with some even blithely ignoring how many millions of people have been working the whole time, simply doing it from home rather than a central office location.
and then
The move “back to work” will not be an either/or, it will not be going back to work all the time in an office, nor will be it be working remotely exclusively. Instead, the future will be “both/and“, it will be a mix of both. In other words, “the future is hybrid“.
Let us engage in some brave and new thinking to both do what is best for our economy and businesses as well as best for each of us to our own needs. Let’s #WFA !
Edit: Adding a note from feedback. #WFA absolutely includes working “at the office” as well as at home, “anywhere” includes those places. The distinction I seek to make is that once employers and employees fully embrace the concept of empowering and enabling working where we do our best work (wherever that is and whether with human face to face contact or not), then entire paradigms of work and place will change.