Harvard professor extolls the virtue of working remotely as a boost to talent, innovation, and productivity
Property price hikes and Zoom‑town booms as experienced in areas like the Hudson Valley (NY) or the UK’s West Country exemplified the post COVID working-from-home effect. Recent cooling suggests this might be a short-term phenomenon. Yet there is evidence that some companies are re-imagining their practices to facility a permanent ‘work-from-anywhere’ (WFA) model. Could WFA be a route to greater global competitiveness?
In his new book The World is Your Office Harvard Business School professor Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury explores the transformative power of remote and flexible work. Drawing on extensive research and real-world case studies, Choudhury presents a compelling case for the WFA model. He examines how companies can harness global talent, boost employee satisfaction, and increase productivity by decoupling work from physical offices. The book outlines how to design successful WFA strategies, manage distributed teams, navigate legal and tax implications, and maintain innovation and culture across dispersed environments.
Since peak working from home in 2020/21 several major companies have taken strong stances against remote work and have actively enforced return-to-office policies. Financial services firms such JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup now expect staff to be in the office for 5 days a week and amongst the tech giants Amazon requires 5 days in the office, while Apple, Meta/Alphabet, and IBM expect a minimum of 3 days. These policies have brought some employee resistance (e.g., formal petitions at Amazon and JPMorgan), and caused some skilled talent to quit.
Choudhury’s work counters return-to-work thinking and provides a research-backed framework for organizations navigating the new landscape of work. In a world increasingly defined by digital collaboration, talent mobility, and technological connectivity, his argument is that it not enough to think of future work arrangements as simply allowing hybrid working because it’s good for employees’ work-life balance. Rather companies should embrace WFA because it allows hiring talent from anywhere and accessing a national or even a global talent pool to stimulate productivity and innovation.
To set the scene Choudhury makes the business case for WFA, offering several business case success stories. He then looks at emerging trends in WFA, showing how it will be possible with expanding digital and telecommunication technologies for more and more jobs to be done remotely in future—not just white-collar knowledge work.
The lesson this radical book has for business leaders is that WFA offers huge potential advantages and that the barriers to WFA stem from leaders’ mindset and can be overcome. The book offers these six key factors leaders should consider:
Productivity doesn’t require presence: Empirical evidence shows that remote workers—especially in well-structured WFA systems—can outperform their in-office peers.
Talent is global: Businesses no longer need to be limited by geography; they can recruit top talent regardless of location, enabling greater diversity and cost efficiency.
Trust and autonomy are vital: Successful remote work relies on empowering employees with autonomy, which enhances motivation and engagement.
Rethink management practices: Leaders must adapt by focusing on outcomes rather than time spent, and develop new ways to foster collaboration, learning, and performance tracking.
Infrastructure and policy matter: Companies need clear guidelines, robust digital infrastructure, and awareness of cross-border legal issues to make WFA models sustainable.
Culture must be intentional: Maintaining a shared culture in a distributed environment requires deliberate actions—from virtual rituals to asynchronous communication norms.
The World is Your Office goes against the grain of recent return-to-office thinking. While Choudhury acknowledges the difficulties around communication, knowledge sharing, and isolation—which he addresses in the book—he considers these easily offset by the many WFA business success stories he has come across. He urges leaders to embrace flexibility, rethink organizational design, and adopt WFA for future strategic advantage.
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