It was COVID-19 that truly heralded in remote working culture, and ever since, workdays have changed for many around the globe. Leaders around the world hold different opinions regarding this kind of work culture. While some say that in their experience a remote worker delivers more, that too with higher peace of mind, there are those who have cracked the whip to implement return to office.
Remote work is birthing new concepts like fractional working, hybrid working, and digital nomads, which are upending the erstwhile company culture. A factor that truly matters in this equation is organizational leaders’ views on remote working as it becomes an entity in its own right? After all. how leaders think of remote working directly impacts employee work hours and eventually company culture.
Rajat Mishra, Founder and CEO of Prezent, an enterprise business communication platform, thinks that there is a huge misconception with Return to Office (RTO) enforcers, where they assume presence equals productivity.
“Sitting at a desk in an office doesn’t guarantee focus or results. The real question isn’t where people work, it’s what they’re delivering.” — Rajat Mishra, Founder & CEO, Prezent
“I think we all know it isn’t true,” he says. “Sitting at a desk in an office doesn’t guarantee focus or results. The real question isn’t where people work, it’s what they’re delivering.”
Mishra informs that the Prezent team has seen firsthand that remote work, when done right, drives performance. “It boosts morale, expands access to talent, and gives people space to do deep, uninterrupted work. If trust is lacking, that’s a management issue, not a remote work one,” he states.
As per FlexJobs’ Remote Work Economy Index, the second quarter (Q2) of 2025 (April 1, 2025-June 30, 2025), remote job postings increased by 8%, indicating steady demand and long-term resilience in the remote workforce. While remote working has benefits like a flexible schedule and flexibility to live anywhere, the challenges can be dealing with loneliness. Still, as per Statista, remote and hybrid work remain the preferred work structure for many employees globally, with 91% of employees reporting they prefer either a fully or an almost remote work structure.
Jacob Evans, CTO at Kryterion, an SaaS platform in exam development, says remote working has prompted him to be more intentional in his interactions with his teams, “Remote work doesn’t just change where we work geographically; it changes how we work. It has challenged me, a remote leader, to explore new ways to connect with people.”
“Remote work doesn’t just change where we work geographically; it changes how we work. It has challenged me, a remote leader, to explore new ways to connect with people.” — Jacob Evans, CTO at Kryterion
The Office Loyalists
However, all don’t support remote work. A month back Elon Musk said that work from home is morally wrong. His point, how do you know people are actually working when you can’t see them?
Mishra says that Musk framed remote work as “morally wrong” because of the inconsistency of when leaders preach one thing and practice another.
“If you’re going to mandate in-office work, but dial into meetings from your home office, it sends a message. And not a great one.” — Rajat Mishra, Founder & CEO, Prezent
“If you’re going to mandate in-office work, but dial into meetings from your home office, it sends a message. And not a great one,” he says.
Many leaders in the corporate world are accused of leaning on employees to show up at office while following remote working themselves. For example, there are instances of employers dictating the number of days a week employees can work from home, while they themselves work from any location they please. Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, told MSNBC that he is a self-proclaimed remote worker but Salesforce employees were asked to attend office in person three days a week.
Employees even feel this could be a corporate conspiracy. A corporate finance employee commented on YouTube, “Return to office means, work clothes, gas, vehicle maintenance, lunches, etc. etc. etc. It has nothing to do with productivity. It’s easy to keep small satellite offices to meet clients etc. It’s an overall conspiracy amongst corporations to forcefully stimulate the economy by people struggling just to get by. If someone can’t meet their deliverables working from home fire them and hire someone who can be self motivated and productive.”
“Return to office means, work clothes, gas, vehicle maintenance, lunches, etc. etc. etc. It has nothing to do with productivity. It’s easy to keep small satellite offices to meet clients etc. It’s an overall conspiracy amongst corporations to forcefully stimulate the economy by people struggling just to get by. If someone can’t meet their deliverables working from home fire them and hire someone who can be self motivated and productive.” — A corporate finance employee
And it’s not always up to the leaders. Remote working employees must build trust with the leader. Cases like Soham Parekh make employers think twice too. Parekh, being called the serial moonlighter, shook up the startup community when he was caught working simultaneously at multiple startups by misrepresenting his identity and location.
Varunram Ganesh, head of growth at Warp, wrote on X, “Pretty sure very few YC startups will hire remote Indians now,” calling it a “classic case of one guy exploiting a high-trust society,” which risks damaging opportunities for everyone else.
The Remote Leaders
Leadership styles have evolved further with remote working as there can be challenges in finding strategies that make teams more cohesive and create opportunities to deepen connections, while also becoming more aware of how to build trust with peers.
Evans says that adopting remote working has renovated his leadership style, “After 2020, we realized that passive communication is less effective in remote settings, and we needed to be more deliberate in our strategies.”
For example, regular one-on-ones have become a powerful way to build stronger connections.
“I’ve also learned to communicate our team goals and expectations early and often, and to be more empathetic toward each individual’s unique situation. It has made me a more thoughtful leader. At the risk of stating the obvious, building and leading hybrid teams is a deeply human enterprise,” he adds.
Remote work is reshaping leadership styles, pushing managers to trade micromanagement for trust, prioritize outcomes over hours, and develop sharper communication skills to lead teams they may rarely see in person. It’s becoming about measuring what matters, output, collaboration, and results, not whether someone’s in the line of sight.
“Smart leaders stop measuring hours in seats and start measuring outcomes, behaviors, and culture contributions. Loyalty looks like showing up even when no one’s watching. Great leaders create clarity around goals and outcomes, not keystrokes and facetime,” — Rajat Mishra, Founder & CEO, Prezent
“Smart leaders stop measuring hours in seats and start measuring outcomes, behaviors, and culture contributions. Loyalty looks like showing up even when no one’s watching. Great leaders create clarity around goals and outcomes, not keystrokes and facetime,” says Mishra.
Cultural Challenges
Then there is company culture. Can company culture survive over Slack emojis and Zoom birthdays? As companies go remote, they’re replacing coffee breaks with GIFs and team lunches with virtual happy hours. But is this digital bonding enough to build real trust, mentorship, and shared values? Or are leaders facing the challenge of preserving company culture without physical presence?
“Company culture is no longer built solely in office cubicles, break rooms, or hallways, but in every intentional interaction that we, as leaders, have with our teams,” — Jacob Evans, CTO at Kryterion
“Company culture is no longer built solely in office cubicles, break rooms, or hallways, but in every intentional interaction that we, as leaders, have with our teams,” says Evans.
Fractional & Hybrid Workstyles
The newest kid on the remote working block is “fractional working”. Also called fractional employment or fractional executive work, this kind of working is an arrangement where a highly skilled professional provides expertise to multiple organizations on a part-time or project basis. Instead of being a full-time employee, they work a “fraction” of their time for one or more companies, often at a senior level (e.g., fractional CFO, CMO, CIO).
This model offers flexibility for both the individual and the businesses they work with, allowing companies to access specialized skills without the commitment of a full-time hire. The concept is clearly born of remote working culture and a quick search in LinkedIn shows how popular it has become, especially with C-level employees.
Such a working style points to the path of hybrid working, a flexible work model that combines working in an office with remote work options. It allows employees to split their time between working at the company’s physical location and working remotely, often from home. The aim here is to offer flexibility, improve work-life balance, and potentially boost productivity and engagement. This style too is catching up.
“It strikes a workable balance, giving employees the flexibility they’ve come to value, while still preserving the in-person moments that drive alignment, creativity, and culture. It’s not perfect, but it’s a smart compromise between remote-first and office-only extremes,” — Rajat Mishra, Founder & CEO, Prezent
Mishra thinks that a hybrid future is the most realistic and inevitable path forward for many organizations. “It strikes a workable balance, giving employees the flexibility they’ve come to value, while still preserving the in-person moments that drive alignment, creativity, and culture. It’s not perfect, but it’s a smart compromise between remote-first and office-only extremes,” he says.
This doesn’t mean hybrid working is without challenges, he adds.
“Hybrid only works if it’s intentional. Communication gets harder when part of the team is in the room and others are dialing in. Misunderstandings multiply, and engagement drops off quickly. That’s why it’s critical to design hybrid workflows deliberately, making in-person time purposeful, virtual collaboration frictionless, and expectations crystal clear. The hybrid model shouldn’t be seen as a cop-out but rather a commitment to making both modes work well,” he adds.
“A well-designed hybrid model can combine the best of both worlds, the human connection of shared experiences and the deep focus provided by a remote environment. But achieving this balance requires intentional, trusting leadership, not control or micromanagement.” — Jacob Evans, CTO at Kryterion
Evans too supports a hybrid model, “A well-designed hybrid model can combine the best of both worlds, the human connection of shared experiences and the deep focus provided by a remote environment. But achieving this balance requires intentional, trusting leadership, not control or micromanagement.”
Remote work isn’t just a logistical shift, it’s a leadership reckoning. As trust replaces presence and flexibility challenges control, the leaders who will thrive aren’t those clinging to the old rules, but those redefining them. Whether remote, hybrid, or fractional, the future of work will be led by those bold enough to humanize it.
