⛱️ Work from... resort?

Good Morning,

After last week’s presidential “debate,” it’s nice to see one thing that’s no longer debatable: among organizations whose employees don’t need to be in an office, offering a hybrid workweek is demonstrably better for companies than offering strictly in-office arrangements.

We’ve heard this anecdotally, and we’ve seen companies present their own supporting data, but the results this time are from a formal study — its topic #1 in today’s issue.

Separately, past studies have consistently shown that of individuals who have the option to work from anywhere, about 60% prefer to work on a hybrid schedule — essentially having the option to go into an office at a time of their choosing.

So if you’re in this majority, it may be worth bookmarking the first article we’re featuring today and sharing it with any boss who doesn’t want to give you that hybrid flexibility.

Remote Source Job Board

Featured companies:

Mondelez International: 21 remote jobs
SeatGeek: 27 remote jobs
2K: 97 remote jobs

🤝 Find Remote Jobs Here

Need to Know

📊 Hybrid beats fully in-office
In the first randomized controlled trial comparing hybrid work to 100% in-office work, hybrid unequivocally benefitted the participating company and its employees more than the fully in-office policy.

Nick Bloom, perhaps the most prominent economist in the remote work space, spearheaded the study, which tracked 1,600 graduate workers with the specific intention of measuring the impact of their work arrangements. The results were clear:

• Hybrid workers had higher job satisfaction

• Hybrid workers had lower resignation rates

• Hybrid arrangements lowered the resignation rates even more substantially among (1) women, and (2) those with long commutes

• Hybrid arrangements had no impact on managers — likely because managers statistically don’t want remote work as much as individual contributors

While other studies have shown positive statistics favoring remote and hybrid work, this was the first study done with clearly-defined inputs and measurements to better understand the impact of location flexibility versus in-office.

Given how much it costs to recruit and train new employees, companies would be wise to keep this study in mind to reduce those expenditures. Trip.com, which facilitated the study, estimated these costs to be $20,000 per employee for post-grad roles; that number is substantially higher for many knowledge worker positions in North America.

If two days from home improves retention, it’s not difficult to draw the conclusion that three, four, and five days from home would likely yield similar results. Hopefully we’ll have even more properly controlled studies like this in the months and years ahead, to give executives the confidence they may need to reverse their hasty RTO mandates. (Nature)

📉 Remote work helped tame inflation
Steven Davis, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that claims WFH helped fight inflation in the US.

Between June 2022 and June 2023, inflation fell, and this was credited to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. But Davis argues that because unemployment stayed low, interest rates couldn’t be given credit.

In surveying hundreds of executives, Davis found that 41% of executives expected to use remote work as a bargaining chip to slow wage growth.

Employees’ willingness to accept lower wage growth in exchange for more favored working arrangements is a big reason overall wage growth has slowed, preventing higher rates of inflation.

There are other factors in play as well; but that said, Davis says the wage stagnation due to remote work is mostly “played out,” which means the Fed needs to continue to fight potential inflation without the help of remote work policies. (Wall Street Journal)

🤩 Building culture while remote
BuiltIn rounded up advice from leaders within several remote companies, and asked them how they create positive remote cultures.

Common themes were building trust and intentionally setting aside time for employees to connect with one another.

Some organizations hold scheduled in-person meetups, and one had “virtual” quarterly business reviews featuring dynamic speakers and engaging activities.

If you’re a remote manager, these ideas are worth combing through to help strengthen the culture at your organization. (BuiltIn)

🚨 Job scams more than doubled in 2023
A new report from the Identity Theft Resource Center found that job scams increased by 118% between 2022 and 2023.

The rise of artificial intelligence has apparently helped criminals create job listings that seem more legitimate than before and target more victims.

This is a good reminder to be on the lookout for scams when applying to jobs. If a recruiter reaches out to you with an offer that appears too good to be true, or if they ask for personal information like your bank account number, there’s a good chance they’re attempting to scam you.

This is one of the reasons the Remote Source Job Board links directly to company career pages (or verified LinkedIn job postings if that’s where the company lists their openings). You can be confident that all jobs found on our job board are legitimate. (CNBC)

🤝 Reduce proximity bias in the workplace
Employees early in their careers are more likely to seek out feedback and supervision. But it’s difficult to accommodate this in a remote setting, especially when those younger employees are less familiar with traditional work norms.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but it should be top of mind for employers to devote serious thought to this potential conundrum.

Further, women and people of color are more likely to feel isolated in remote work environments. Not only would intentional mentorship programs benefit younger workers, but it would add to general connection among remote colleagues that would help foster a greater sense of belonging — which can only benefit a company in the long run. (Fast Company)

Stuff We Like

🪑 Mayo Clinic Ergonomics Guide
When’s the last time you adjusted your home office setup? Use this guide from the Mayo Clinic to ensure your chair, desk, keyboard, and more are positioned in ways that won’t cause any negative effects. (Mayo Clinic)

📱 PCWorld’s must-have WFH tech products
PCWorld rounded up 24 of their favorite WFH products, including a business webcam, a surge protector, phone sanitizer, monitor arm, and more. (PCWorld)

⛱️ ResortPass
This company offers day passes for hotels, allowing access to hotels and their amenities without requiring an overnight stay. If you’re looking for more luxurious and relaxing places to work from, this could be a fun service to use.

As a test, I ran a quick search for options here in Austin, TX this week; there are several luxury hotels offering day pass rates for as little as $25 👀 (ResortPass)

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