Looks like even coffee shops have joined the remote work trend.
Working from home has become one of the most divisive topics in recent years.
For some, it’s a genuine enabler of productivity and balance. For others, it’s simply not an option, as certain roles need to be done in person, no matter how creative we get.
I vote we just start making more robots so we can all Work from Home when we want/need to.
If your productivity graph nosedives the second people return onsite, the problem might not be related to WHERE people are working from.
RTO mandates driven by nostalgia or control, rarely land well with many employees.
People aren’t resisting the office.
They are resisting being treated like children, or that they can’t be trusted to deliver.
And nothing makes your office staff happier than having to commute to the office, to then sit at their desk and have meetings via Teams or Zoom.
If the goal is output, collaboration, and culture, maybe start by asking why your team no longer thrives under the model you’re pushing.
Let’s stop pretending it’s about productivity when the data – and the employees – say otherwise.
The human staff are gone, but the real concern now is whether the company can still preserve the “culture“.
After all, nothing undermines a company’s values quite like ‘staff’ that won’t work on-site to ensure they are seen by upper management, or attend morning huddles.
“Culture” has become a convenient excuse draped over hollow policies, half-empty offices, and leadership denial.
Real culture isn’t built on swipe-ins, pizza parties, or being able to pop over to a co-workers desk to collaborate.
It comes from trust, autonomy, and how people are treated – not how often they’re seen. People can actually be even lazier in the office, than what some people thing they are when WFH.
The reality is that many RTO mandates have less to do with fostering collaboration and more to do with justifying long-term commercial real estate commitments.
It’s not about people or performance – it’s about sunk costs and occupancy metrics. As long as someone (or something) is physically present, executives can maintain the illusion of culture, innovation, and engagement, even when the office itself has become little more than an expensive prop.
As we begin to exit the COVID lockdown stages worldwide, many companies are hoping to help their staff once again embrace the idea of wanting to return to the office.
But a quick scan of recent articles online show that there is a massive amount of resistance to this, from the employees.
The pandemic has shown us all, in no uncertain terms, that many jobs can be effectively completed from a home working environment. But companies seem to be reluctant to admit this and even whilst spouting their belief that a “new normal” is required for how we perform our jobs, they are also extremely keen to return to safety of the way things were.
Hopefully companies will realise that ‘Productivity does not equal Place’ and give us all varied options for how we do our work, from now and into the future.
PS: ZOOM fatigue is a real thing and I am sick of saying “You are on mute” to others…