Publication
Mission impossible? Teresa Ribera’s mission letter and the future of EU merger review
Executive Vice President Vestager’s momentous tenure as Commissioner responsible for EU competition policy is nearing its end.
Author:
Global | Publication | May 2022
This is the 15th paper in our Transforming Workplace series. In this paper we examine how ‘work from anywhere’ can be made to work better.
Many initiatives can be implemented by both parties (organisations and employees) to improve ‘work from anywhere’ outcomes.
Firstly, employees and organisations can jointly address employees’ two “biggest struggle(s) with working remotely,”1 which are:
1. Not being able to unplug. |
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2. Difficulties with collaboration and communication. |
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Confirming that employees are not able to unplug, a recent study of Microsoft employees worldwide found that “fifty-four percent feel overworked” and “thirty-nine percent feel exhausted.”2
Many remote employees find they are:
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“Three strategies to create better and healthier boundaries for remote work” can be adopted by remote employees to address this issue:6
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Other initiatives available to reduce meeting and ‘Zoom fatigue’ are:
Employees should push back against their FOMO, and the habit where “showing up to a meeting has become the signal of doing work.”7
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For organisations, it is vital to allow employees to have work/life balance, and “unless you’d like to be known as an employer who demands 24/7 attention from your remote workers, make it clear that you want everyone to enjoy a personal life.”8
Fixing remote employees’ difficulties with collaboration and communication is a challenge. Organisations have to balance the need to reduce employee exhaustion by cutting unnecessary meetings, with the need to hold meetings to boost communication and connection.
Instead of more meetings, “employees’ feelings of team connection (can be enhanced by) receiving (workload) prioritization support from managers, feeling productive, and maintaining work-life balance – all of which managers heavily influence.”9
Great leaders can also “create a supportive work environment where their people love the work and feel they have work-life balance, (and as a result) the natural by product is that teams feel more connected.”9
Organisations can improve other factors in their control to make ‘work from anywhere’ work better, in particular:
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In summary, we have outlined many ways in which employees and organisations can make ‘work from anywhere’ work better. One significant benefit from adopting some of these initiatives is “that happier, healthier people also have greater impact.”
Norton Rose Fulbright assists organisations to efficiently and effectively address the legal aspects of the new global work environment, including working from anywhere. Please reach out if we can assist your organisation in this respect.
Our next paper will consider if ‘work from anywhere’ and hybrid work have led to the end of the office as we know it.
Buffer.com, ‘The 2021 State of Remote Work.’
Microsoft WorkLab, ‘The Next Great Disruption is Hybrid Work – Are We Ready?’, 22 March 2021.
Randstat, Workmonitor 2021 Second Edition, Workforce Transformation Through the ‘Great Enlightenment’, August/September 2021.
M Elgan, Computerworld, “Remote Work 2.0 – When WFH Really Means ‘Work From Anywhere’, 8 February 2021.
M Savage, BBC Worklife, ‘What Bosses Really Think About Remote Work’, 13 September 2021.
R Glazer, Inc., ‘The Number 1 Issue Remote Workers Face – and the Surprisingly Easy Fix.’
J Spataro, Microsoft WorkLab, ‘6 Principles for Hybrid Work Wellbeing’.
J Comm, Inc., ‘3 Ways to Create a Culture of Trust With Remote Workers.’
Microsoft WTI Pulse Report, ‘In Hybrid Work, Managers Keep Teams Connected’, 30 March 2021.
A Christian, BBC Worklife, ‘Why Hybrid Work is Emotionally Exhausting’, 21 January 2022.
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Executive Vice President Vestager’s momentous tenure as Commissioner responsible for EU competition policy is nearing its end.
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On November 28, 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted its first list of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs), i.e., projects within the EU territory, and Projects of Mutual Interest (PMIs), i.e., projects connecting the EU with other countries, including 166 projects implementing the European Green Deal.
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