With all the recent hubbub about why working from home is on the way out, many executives are questioning the viability of transitioning employees to a distributed or hybrid (partially distributed) model.

IBM, Aetna, Bank of America, Best Buy, Honeywell International and Reddit have recently either reduced their remote-friendly policies or ended them altogether. The big question on everyone’s minds is, “Why?”

If these companies failed to make remote work “work,” what makes your company any different?

When managers insist on stronger collaboration and having more control over their team members’ workdays, the easy way out is to bring all their workers back to the main office. It’s comfortable. It’s predictable. It’s manageable.

But, it’s these old-school management strategies that are failing, not the locations. Remote work is different and requires contemporary management techniques. And, by teaching our up-and-coming managers how to lead fully distributed or hybrid teams, we are empowering the next generation of companies to make remote work the standard, not an anomaly.

What do you think? Are management strategies the problem here, or is it something else entirely? Tweet us @yonder_io with your thoughts!