“We’re all remote now” is good for Mr. Patel, and bad for Mr. Smith

The reality is, of course, that we’re not all remote now, and execs will increasingly bring people back to offices, probably on a poorly-managed hybrid model that will drive the anxiety of the middle ranks through the roof (“What do you mean Tom can’t come in on his Green Group-appointed Wednesday slot?!?!?”). But … the bigger issue is that Mr. Outsourcing Andre is cheaper, works more of the time, and isn’t concerned with Kevin’s Little League schedule. Over time, an executive — even the most well-meaning executive — will prefer Mr. Outsourcing to Mr. KPI Smith. Money is money. Cost containment is cost containment. Incentives are incentives. These are facts of the world. If we’re all remote, it’s a race to the bottom. I see this weekly in copywriting, where we (and I) lose gigs to the Philippines or fluent European nations. Now, admittedly I don’t always try very hard and don’t see the value in some white-collar projects as strongly as I should, but … this is reality. The more we move towards “it can be done from anywhere,” the closer we creep to “it can be done from anywhere in the cheapest way possible,” and I’m not sure everyone is understanding that just yet.