Working From Home - Is It Working?

While many employers promote the idea that outcomes matter more than hours, most employment systems still rely heavily on traditional measures such as time, presence, and availability. In the legal profession especially, time remains the foundation of how value is recognised.

Many managers commonly claim that location and hours no longer matter if work is delivered. But employment agreements continue to specify rostered hours, availability expectations, and break requirements signalling that organisations still pay for input rather than output. Experts note that while output works as a performance measure for simple or short‑cycle tasks, it becomes less reliable in complex, collaborative, or long‑term work. Deliverables show what was produced, but not the judgment, capability development, or trade‑offs behind the work.

While some view the return‑to‑office push as an issue of supervision, many managers say proximity helps them understand how work is being done. Being physically present allows managers to see who asks good questions, who supports colleagues, and who is struggling which are insights that rarely surface in digital updates. These behaviours feed into capability assessments, promotions, and succession planning. Without visibility, high performers risk becoming less noticeable in remote environments.

Some commentators argue that genuinely shifting to an output‑focused model requires more than allowing remote work. Perhaps businesses need clearer definitions of work, more capable managers, better ways to measure capability, and development pathways that make learning visible even from afar.

Employees increasingly want flexibility, and most employers genuinely want to provide it. Finding a way forward is not easy. The real future of work isn’t about choosing between the office and home. It’s about aligning intentions with systems. If employers want to reward outcomes, build capability, and support flexibility, they need structures that make those things visible and valued.  Otherwise, hybrid work will remain suspended between aspiration and reality: outcome‑driven in theory, input‑driven in practice – which is something not quite palatable for anyone. Let's build frameworks that reward outcomes.