More than five years into the remote work revolution, executives are still grappling with fundamental questions: Are remote employees truly productive? And what does the data tell us about building effective remote strategies?
Recent research from Gallup provides a wake-up call that challenges conventional wisdom about remote work productivity. The findings reveal that “by 2022, people in heavily remote roles were working about an hour less per day than in 2019, on average.” Yet despite working fewer hours, there’s been a slight increase in output per worker in the economy. The secret isn’t individual efficiency—it’s “job matching,” where organizations hire the best-fit talent for each role regardless of location.
But here’s what the data really reveals: Remote work isn’t the problem or the solution. It’s a magnifying glass that amplifies whatever culture already exists in your organization. And creating the right culture requires courageous decisions that most leaders aren’t prepared to make.
The Cultural Foundation That Policy Can’t Fix
The research shows that when you control for fundamental workplace factors like feeling appreciated and receiving clear communication, the satisfaction benefits of remote work largely disappear. This should be a humbling revelation for leaders who see remote arrangements as either salvation or threat. Company culture has a stronger influence on employee satisfaction than physical location.
This means remote work can’t be a band-aid for a lackluster culture or anemic leadership. Yet too many organizations are using flexible arrangements exactly that way—offering location independence while avoiding the harder work of creating psychological safety, clear communication and genuine belonging.
The courageous decision here is acknowledging that your culture might not be ready for remote work success. It takes bravery to admit that your management practices, communication rhythms and team dynamics need fundamental changes before any work arrangement can truly thrive.
Making Courageous Decisions About What Matters
Creating a culture-first approach to remote work requires leaders to make several courageous decisions that challenge conventional thinking.
Courageous Decision 1: Choose Trust Over Control
The amplification effect the research describes—where great managers become more effective and not-so-great managers see their deficiencies magnified—happens because remote work strips away the illusion that proximity equals management. You can’t manage by walking around when everyone’s distributed.
This requires choosing to measure outcomes rather than activities, impact rather than hours. Having direct conversations about expectations instead of relying on visual confirmation of work. And trusting people to manage their time and energy while being crystal clear about what success looks like.
Courageous Decision 2: Invest In Human Development, Not Technology
Most organizations throw money at collaboration tools and productivity software while neglecting the human skills that make distributed work succeed. The research shows that management quality requirements are higher for remote teams, not lower. It’s not about surveillance—but emotional intelligence, clear communication and the ability to create connection across multiple channels.
The courageous decision is investing more in leadership development, communication skills and team dynamics training. It’s acknowledging that your managers may need to completely reimagine their approach to supporting people and driving results.
Courageous Decision 3: Design For Connection, Not Efficiency
Remote work can optimize for individual productivity, but at the cost of undermining the social connections that make work personally meaningful. Location flexibility doesn’t automatically create job satisfaction or long-term retention—it can increase feelings of isolation despite improved work-life boundaries.
The courageous decision is designing work experiences that prioritize human connection and shared purpose, even when it feels less efficient in the short term. This means creating rituals, traditions and touchpoints that help people feel like part of something larger than their individual tasks.
The Culture-Building Framework For Remote Success
• Start with clarity about your values in action. Don’t just post your values on the website—define what they look like in distributed work environments. How do you demonstrate respect when you can’t read body language? How do you build trust when you can’t have spontaneous hallway conversations?
• Create intentional connection points. Replace accidental office interactions with purposeful connection opportunities. This might mean starting meetings with personal check-ins, creating virtual coffee chats or establishing team traditions that happen regardless of location.
• Establish communication rhythms, not rules. Instead of mandating specific tools or meeting frequencies, create rhythms that serve your culture. Some teams need daily standups to feel connected; others thrive with weekly deep dives. Design systems that support your values while honoring individual preferences.
• Make decision-making transparent. When people can’t overhear leadership conversations or pick up cultural cues from office dynamics, you need to be much more explicit about how decisions get made. Share not just what you’ve decided, but how you arrived at those conclusions.
The Courage To Lead Differently
The organizations winning in distributed work aren’t asking whether remote work “works”—they’re asking how to make their specific implementation serve their deepest values and highest aspirations. This requires courageous leadership: the willingness to question inherited assumptions, experiment with new approaches and prioritize long-term culture building over short-term policy fixes.
The most courageous decision of all is admitting that creating a thriving remote culture is harder than implementing a remote work policy. It requires ongoing attention, continuous adjustment and the humility to acknowledge when something isn’t working.
But for leaders brave enough to start with culture rather than policy, remote work becomes what it was always meant to be—not an accommodation or perk, but a strategic advantage for attracting talent, fostering innovation and creating the kind of workplace where both individuals and organizations can thrive.
This is where the competitive advantage lies: with those who build cultures so strong that they transcend location, so clear that they guide behavior across any medium and so compelling that people choose to contribute their best work regardless of where that work happens.