Thrive or restrict: Remote work wins as flexibility fuels project success

Successful businesses today adapt the structure of work to the needs of their employees instead of making them conform to a rigid structure.

“We can confidently say that project management’s future success is defined by adaptability to the changing environment, which constantly brings new challenges to achieving top project performance,” said Pierre Le Manh, president and CEO of the Project Management Institute. “Organizations that take the lead in adapting to the evolving landscape of work, empowering their project teams and investing in continuous learning can not only become more resilient to the impact of frequent changes but will also thrive and unlock their full potential.”

Remote work has become a permanent fixture in the modern workplace. This has been enabled by technology, which has made it possible for professionals to be productive anywhere, and further supported by increasing demand from employees for greater flexibility. The change has been both rapid and significant and, as a result, organizations have struggled to adapt. Today, however, only 10% of organizations expect in-person work all of the time, while 90% have embraced a range of flexible work models that allow employees to work remotely from off-site locations some or most of the time.

The question for employers is whether these arrangements come at the cost of reduced productivity. The answer is no, according to the institute’s Pulse of the Profession 2024 report.

“Research reveals that negative perceptions of work from anywhere are unfounded, both at the project level and more broadly throughout organizations,” it said.

Data suggest that, comparatively, work location has no negative impact on project performance. Furthermore, there is a marginal difference in project performance when considering any combination of ways of working. Data show a slight but not statistically significant edge in project performance rates for in-person work across all management approaches.

“These results indicate that organizations will not see a significant benefit to project performance by bringing employees back into the office, especially considering the negative impact such a move would have on employee morale and retention and the operational costs of in-person work,” the report said. “Rather, organizations should focus on empowering project professionals with flexibility in how, where and when they work, without worrying about negative impacts on project performance. Organizations need to design their own strategy to meet their needs.”

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Employees, when given the necessary support and resources, can be trusted to perform regardless of how and where they work.

“Our research has revealed that there is no one-size-fits-all answer,” the report concluded. “Rather than attempting to force arbitrary work arrangements or strict project management approaches, organizations should empower project professionals and teams to find the most appropriate way of working to excel in this era of flexibility and agility.”