Remote workers are not coming back to the office, says Kevin OLeary, and some of the younger ones have never worked in one at all.
According to the investor and Shark Tank star, that changes how companies and workers are managed.
Over the last three years theres a new generation of workerparticularly in financial services and in technology or in engineeringthat has no intention of working in an office, he told CNN on Friday. They never have, they never will. People keep saying, Oh, theyre gonna all come back. Theyre not.
According to OLeary, 44% of the employees across his venture portfolio work remotely, and they aint coming into the office, period. Thats it. Thats just the way its gonna be.
He said that with unemployment under 4%, his companies are forced to compete for workers, and part of the negotiation is where theyre going to work.
Asked whether remote work has hurt productivity, OLeary replied: I found that it hasnt changed anything because they dont know anything else. Some of them just got out of college and started working out of their homes. Theyve never worked in an office. Basically what it changes, its project management.
Remote workers, he noted, are not working nine-to-five, and it doesnt particularly matter in terms of productivity. You say to somebody, Look, you gotta get this done by next Friday at noon. You dont really care when they do itas long as it gets done.
The tradeoff for workers, he noted, is theres probably less private time on weekends. He said he feels free to call his employees at any time on any day of the week. Thats the deal. If you dont work in the office, I can call you at two in the morning if weve got a crisis. And theyre gonna answer. Thats the way theyre used to it now.
OLeary isnt alone in believing the offices diminishment will last.
Marc Andreessen, cofounder of venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, believes that while companies are discussing having workers come back three or four days a week, the spirit is gone in terms of workplaces being the primary source of connection in American life. Elvis has left the building for these kinds of environments, he said at the American Dynamism Summit in Washington, D.C., in November.
That can particularly hurt younger workers who havent had time to forge professional connections and start families. The focus then turns to where you live, Andreessen said. Are you literally by yourself? Do you have roommates? Are you in a small [apartment] complex, are you in a big complex? Do you have any sense of connection whatsoever?
The risk, he said, is more workers feeling alienation and loneliness.
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