How work from anywhere could work for your business

The future of work. It’s a topic that has been scrutinised, ripped apart and debated ad nauseam, especially in a post-pandemic world. Battle lines were drawn, big companies weighed in and sides were taken in the office versus hybrid versus remote showdown.

Now Harvard Business School professor Prithwiraj Choudhury has released a book based on more than a decade's worth of study and research into companies that have embraced a work-from-anywhere (WFA) model. And it makes for fascinating reading.

“I think the narrative in the media, for some reason, became employer versus employee,” says Choudhury. “The focus has been on working from home. But my research is actually focused on WFA, which I see as a triple win. It's a win for the employee, a win for the employer and a win for smaller towns and communities that have lost talent.”

WFA is an arrangement that lets the worker choose where they live – which part of the country, town, city and sometimes even country. For example, if you’re a company based in Leeds and you have four employees working in Maidstone in Kent, you could arrange for them to work from home or give them the option to go to a co-working space.

Why work from anywhere is good for business

It might seem obvious that that's good for the employee, but it's good for a company as well, argues Choudhury.

“You are expanding your labour market. Instead of being locked down to a London labour market or even a UK labour market, you are potentially expanding it nationally, regionally or even globally. With so much uncertainty around moving people around, this option to hire from anywhere is something that is a competitive advantage for companies.”