Why fully remote working is doomed to fail, according to the CEO of travel giant Trivago
Trivago
- The German travel-comparison firm Trivago, which generated nearly $1 billion in revenue in 2019, will launch a "hybrid" workplace model this week that involves employees coming to the office for "homecomings" once a month, CEO Axel Hefer told Business Insider.
- Hefer said Twitter and Facebook, which have fully embraced remote working, have got it all wrong: Remote meetings have plenty of limitations, he said.
- "The last time companies have tried in the last big wave of, 'OK, let's do remote work,' most of those concepts have failed," he said.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The German travel-comparison firm Trivago, which generated revenues just shy of $1 billion in 2019, will test a "hybrid" workplace model starting in September that includes office "homecomings" once a month, forever home working for caregivers, and an extra week of holiday for all employees, CEO Axel Hefer told Business Insider.
The model contrasts with those of Big Tech firms, which have embraced long-term home working during the pandemic. In May, Twitter announced staff could work from home forever, even after coronavirus lockdowns end. Google has said staff can stay away from the office until summer 2021, and Facebook predicted half its workforce may be remote by 2030. Even more traditional firms like Allianz, a German financial-services firm, have put off a return to the office.
Trivago CEO Axel Hefer told Business Insider that working 100% remotely is doomed to fail: "The last time companies have tried in the last big wave of, 'OK, let's do remote work,' most of those concepts have failed," he said.
He said while remote working is fine for most situations, meetings that require creativity, or where big decisions must be made, are best done in person.
"That's why I'm always smiling when I'm reading Facebook does this, Twitter does that, and Allianz does this. How do you actually balance one and the other, and to be honest, I don't think anybody knows," Hefer said.
How do remote meetings stack up?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom and other video conferencing tools have become the default means of communication for many people and businesses. But these tools cannot always replicate in-person meetings: Studies conducted after the 2008 financial crisis, where firms had to save money on business travel and were forced to use video-conferences as an alternative, suggested video calls might be less effective in certain situations.
In 2009, Forbes Insights surveyed more than 760 business executives about their meeting preferences: 82% said face-to-face meetings are best for decision-making, and 86% said in-person meetings are better for engagement.
In an April interview with the BBC, Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at business school Insead, said that virtual meetings are more stressful because participants are conscious of their behaviour in front of a camera. They also get distracted looking at their own face, he said.
However, Harvard Business School's research found that the productivity of a meeting depends on how those meetings are led, rather than whether they are virtual. Nearly 90% of the study's participants reported "as high or higher" engagement in virtual meetings as in-person meetings, after leaders changed their approach and made the group actively participate in the discussion.
Hefer knows where he stands on the debate. Trivago employees will be encouraged to return to the company's Düsseldorf campus one or two weeks a month starting in September — an office "homecoming," he said, that will allow them to see colleagues in person. For now, these will remain optional.
Trivago employs more than 1,000 people in its Düsseldorf office. You can read about the model in our full interview with Hefer.
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