Two younger employees, seated, looking at a laptop in a modern conference room office in front of a large glass window.
Source: iStock | Gorodenkoff Productions OU

Google has joined Amazon.com, Apple, The Walt Disney Company and others that have announced plans to more strictly enforce or add restrictions to their hybrid work policies.

“There’s just no substitute for coming together in person,” wrote Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi, in an internal email obtained by The Verge and CNBC.

“Of course, not everyone believes in ‘magical hallway conversations,’ but there’s no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference. Many of the products we unveiled at I/O and Google Marketing Live last month were conceived, developed and built by teams working side by side,” Ms. Cicconi wrote.

As of April 2022, most Google employees are expected in offices at least three days a week.

Google will start including office attendance in performance reviews and urge already-approved remote workers to reconsider. Some workers’ remote status will be re-evaluated if Google determines there have been “material changes in business need, role, team, structure or location.”

At Amazon, tensions boiled over on May 28 as hundreds of office workers staged a walkout over a three-day office return mandate. In a memo from February 17, Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, wrote that in-person work fosters culture building, learning, collaboration and innovation.

Meta, in late May, notified employees they would be required to be in the office three days a week starting in September, its strictest remote work policy change since the novel coronavirus pandemic outbreak. “In-person time helps build relationships and get more done,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a March-14 memo, 

JPMorgan, Microsoft, Walmart, Salesforce, Starbucks, Twitter, Chipotle, Citigroup and IBM are among others recently mandating in-office attendance at least some days of the week.

Many remote workers claim they’re more productive without office distractions. The flexibility and work-life balance benefits of remote work are causing many to push back strongly against return-to-office mandates.

Unispace’s “Returning for Good” global survey taken in April found 72 percent of companies have mandated office returns, but 74 percent are struggling to keep their employees happy, 42 percent report a higher level of employee attrition than anticipated, and 29 percent are struggling to recruit altogether.

BrainTrust

“The real issue is that management can’t figure out how to evolve to function in a remote worker environment — not the workers.”

DeAnn Campbell

Head of Retail Insights, AAG Consulting Group


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Do you see the back-to-office movement gaining or losing steam? What are the pros and cons of remote or hybrid working?

Poll

Do remote or hybrid work structures positively or negatively affect productivity?

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39 responses to “Should Companies Order Workers Back to The Office?”

  1. Mark Ryski Avatar
    Mark Ryski

    Workers who have had the opportunity to work from home and have now adjusted their lifestyles accordingly are not only resisting, but prepared to make career moves based on having the ability to work from home. Ultimately, every business needs to determine how to best approach this, but what does appear to be clear is that the push for work from home isn’t going away. And large employers in particular are struggling to incent and/or punish employees who don’t comply. In my own experience, 95% of our team have been work from home since March of 2020, and overall, it’s been a big win for my team and the company.

  2. Ken Lonyai Avatar
    Ken Lonyai

    I don’t buy this argument. There are many counter studies completely left out of this article which are needed for balance.

    Also glaringly missing is the fact that these companies are trying to justify their real estate investments on balance sheets which they can’t do with empty office space. To that end, there’s this “Google has put more than 1.4 million square feet of office space in Silicon Valley on the sublease market, as first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.” https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/google-offloading-office-space-in-bay-area-18126629.php Further, the commercial mortgage market is widely reported in financial circles to be on the verge of collapse. When that likely happens, many buildings won’t be operating and workers will be sent home again.

    So it’s a total diversion to back indiscriminate policies about worker location rather than putting that energy into better management training.

    1. Ricardo Belmar Avatar
      Ricardo Belmar

      You’ve just hit on the real issue, not worker productivity! Especially coming from an organization that provides collaborative tools in the market in support of hybrid work. It’s tough to justify that from a product position if you’r not willing to support the remote work concept!

  3. John Lietsch Avatar
    John Lietsch

    It’s funny that we talk about “back-to-office” as a “movement” that gains or loses steam. How did remote and hybrid become the status quo after only three years of a pandemic induced change? Yes, we will revert to the real status quo of physically working in offices. The hope is that companies and managers will adopt a more flexible approach and maybe retain some remote benefits in a hybrid-type environment. As always, the key is compromise but as a country we tend to pull hard to the extremes before we ever find it (if we ever find it). Let’s hope we figure this one out in a way that works for everyone because there are valid pros and cons on both sides.

    1. Paula Rosenblum Avatar
      Paula Rosenblum

      RSR has been 100% virtual for 16 years. It’s not all that new, and man, is it efficient

      1. John Lietsch Avatar
        John Lietsch

        Agreed. I’ve been hybrid for around 20. I’m extremely impressed that you have not worked in the same room with another human in 16 years; I’m not sure I could have pulled that off. I don’t deny it has worked for some and that it continues to work for many (me included). My intent was just to say that I believe “in-office” has been the rule not the exception (or it wouldn’t be causing such a fuss). My other intent was to suggest there’s room (and need and business cases) for all the models (remote, in-office, hybrid).

  4. Nicola Kinsella Avatar
    Nicola Kinsella

    The world has changed. We now know how to work remotely. Is in person time still valuable? Absolutely. But is mandating 3-days a week in the office a good move? No. Different functions and teams vary greatly in how much they would benefit from in-person time versus remote. Deliverables and outcomes should drive decisions. And managers should be given autonomy to decide what works best for their teams. But cities are offering big tax breaks to large companies if they bring employees back to the office because local businesses are suffering, so we’ll see more mandates in the future.

  5. Jeff Sward Avatar
    Jeff Sward

    Part of this conversation is about the struggle between the upside of collaborative office work and the incredible waste of time involved in commuting. I actually enjoyed my several different office environments. But I also used to have 1.5 hour one-way commutes by car or train every day. Reclaiming 3 hours a day, or 2 hours or 1 hour, is a significant lifestyle boost, and cannot be underestimated. Every company is going to have to make decisions about individual departments and individual employees. Across the board mandates sound fair, but they also sound antiquated and punitive. It will take a lot of work, but the balance between office time, commuting and WFH is evolving quite dramatically.

  6. Gene Detroyer Avatar
    Gene Detroyer

    Maybe it is my age, but I don’t understand being more productive working from home. Business is a collegial activity. It is all about new ideas and execution. Yes, it is about that magical hallway conversation. It is about teams working together to accomplish big things. While individuals may say they are more productive in their work, companies are obviously finding that the company is accomplishing more and better when workers are together. It costs more to have workers in the office. These companies have judged it worth the extra cost.

  7. David Spear Avatar
    David Spear

    Gaining steam, with caveats. Certainly, if an employee works in a non-HQ or regional office location, fully remote will likely be the norm. However, associates who are within reasonable distance to a company office, shouldn’t balk at a hybrid schedule. Many companies stated in the article are doing 2-3 days per week, including mine. Individual productivity can be a huge positive with WFH, but I do agree with the statement that better team collaboration and innovation comes from associates coming together in an office environment. Since companies are testing a variety of hybrid models, watch out for ultimate hybrid model, which is WFH Monday, in office Tue-Thu and Fri off. This could be very enticing from a lifestyle and recruiting standpoint.

  8. Bob Phibbs Avatar
    Bob Phibbs

    If the associates and managers have to work in stores, why isn’t it required of any retailer? This isn’t Google we’re talking about, it’s retailers.

  9. Mark Self Avatar
    Mark Self

    Something has to give here. Our offices are located in downtown Raleigh and the foot traffic during the week is almost non-existent. Except for people going in and out of the courthouse! No vibrancy, and while Raleigh has never had a “homeless problem” that garners headlines, it is much easier to be “accosted” while you walk the sidewalks in today’s environment.

    I believe WFH / coming back to the office will be a city by city, company by company “trend” and the big losers are going to be city centers. San Francisco for example. Many of the companies mandating returns are not in city centers.

    The proverbial genie is out of the bottle, and while you may be asked to show up three out of five days a week, that still represents a huge shift from commuting into a city five days a week. The effects on commercial real estate and downtown restaurants, etc. will be felt for a long time.

  10. Lisa Goller Avatar
    Lisa Goller

    More companies expect staff to return to the office and the momentum will continue as Fall approaches.

    Pros of remote/hybrid work:

    1. Happy, productive employees (and families).
    2. Work-life balance. Do laundry while meeting deadlines.
    3. Introverts in particular can focus better and do their best work.
    4. Fewer distractions like gossip and politics
    5. Accommodates “sandwich generation” workers who care for loved ones.
    6. Save time and money. Skip the commute and spend less on gas, coffee, lunches.
    7. Access the best talent from anywhere in the world (vs. geographic limitations).

    Cons of remote/hybrid work:

    1. Unhappy employers if they don’t trust their workers
    2. Fragmentation when workers call in to in-person meetings
    3. Extroverts in particular miss seeing colleagues in person
    4. Workers may resent coming into the office to take Zoom calls.
    5. Not everyone is in the office on the same day.

  11. Peter Charness Avatar
    Peter Charness

    The pendulum may stop at a modified work week. Do people need to be in the office every day –no……a few days a week – that would be helpful yes. Particularly new associates, it’s hard to start up in a new company sitting remotely.

  12. DeAnn Campbell Avatar
    DeAnn Campbell

    The real issue is that management can’t figure out how to evolve to function in a remote worker environment — not the workers. Business as usual won’t work anymore so brand new approaches are needed. Cluster hirings in cities and create a coworking space to encourage employee connection in each city. Leverage technology to improve communication and change how performance is measured. Everything works differently in a remote environment, so spend the time needed to figure it out. The payback in the end will mean a far more flexible and innovative company , which is what’s needed to thrive going forward. I swear it’s the people who own commercial office buildings who are keeping this discourse alive!

  13. Paula Rosenblum Avatar
    Paula Rosenblum

    Once upon a time, before the pandemic, the CEO of IBM ordered workers to come back to the office (IBM was a pioneer of work-from-home). The alternative was to take a package and leave.

    I think they lost some of their best talent in that move. Seriously knowledgeable people (you know who you are).

    Never make blanket rules when people have options. Unemployment is low. People have options. #fail

    1. Paula Rosenblum Avatar
      Paula Rosenblum

      PS RSR has been virtual for almost 16 years. It’s fair to say we’ve been both productive and effective.

  14. Doug Garnett Avatar
    Doug Garnett

    That this is a tension between extremes is a problem. That said, it doesn’t appear that companies have learned what seems to be the critical lesson here: Employees do not want to be in an office where their managers might be watching (and commenting) on their every move.

    To my mind, this has never been about “home” but rather that employees have discovered how much more they get done when they are able to structure and use their time. Losing incidental contacts is, in truth, a serious loss — but that means companies need to make workplaces more welcoming and less surveilled.

    1. Gene Detroyer Avatar
      Gene Detroyer

      If companies have this problem: ” Employees do not want to be in an office where their managers might be watching (and commenting) on their every move,” The company itself has a serious management problem. Working from home is not the solution for the company or the employee.

  15. Perry Kramer Avatar
    Perry Kramer

    There is no once size fits all answer for the question. There are several departments that will probably never go back to full time in the office. There are others that need to be in the office. As an example there is no digital substitution for the feel of the fabric, validate the stitching, collect images, touch the product and collaborate on product design in person. The US was slowly moving towards partial or full remote work when it made sense. The pandemic dramatically accelerated that change and swung the pendulum slightly past the optimal position for employers and more towards the optimal position for employees. Moving it back towards the optional Industry position will be met with significant resistance and turnover.

  16. Dick Seesel Avatar
    Dick Seesel

    A lot of companies are pushing on this issue based on the unspoken problem of vacant office space and facilities for which they continue to incur rent and other expenses. (It’s about dollars and cents, not always about collaboration in the workplace.) Clearly some companies and industries have more leverage over their workers than others in these scenarios.

    1. Gene Detroyer Avatar
      Gene Detroyer

      Let’s look at it another way. Companies believe the added expense of operating an office is worth the return of having the team together.

  17. Kai Clarke Avatar
    Kai Clarke

    Yes, companies have every right to order workers back to the office. Most workers were hired in the workplace with the understanding that this was where they needed to work. It was only because of the brutal, system upset caused by Covid 19, that companies were forced to change their workplace requirements. It was never intended to be a permanent change for most companies, and the value of group learning and peer competition that companies thrive and excel in the competitive business environment. Changing this, is not a positive, rewarding situation for most companies, nor should it be.

    1. Gene Detroyer Avatar
      Gene Detroyer

      Companies that appreciate “the value of group learning and peer competition that companies thrive and excel in the competitive business environment” will excel. Great comment.

  18. Cathy Hotka Avatar
    Cathy Hotka

    And old song said “how are you gonna keep them down on the farm after they’ve seen gay ‘Paree’?” Remote work is fully part of our culture now, and some of the younger generation haven’t actually worked in the office. Ordering people back will backfire.

    1. Gene Detroyer Avatar
      Gene Detroyer

      Will those that WFH be upset when those that go to the office get promoted, and they don’t?

      1. Paula Rosenblum Avatar
        Paula Rosenblum

        Depends on their view of work/life balance

      2. Gene Detroyer Avatar
        Gene Detroyer

        Certainly, if an individual is only interested in what they are doing and not being part of the team, then WFH is a positive individual choice.

      3. Gene Detroyer Avatar
        Gene Detroyer

        Certainly, if an individual is only interested in what they are doing and not being part of the team, then WFH is a positive individual choice.

      4. Gene Detroyer Avatar
        Gene Detroyer

        Certainly, if an individual is only interested in what they are doing and not being part of the team, then WFH is a positive individual choice.

  19. Rameet Kohli Avatar
    Rameet Kohli

    Everyone works remotely for Metrical and for the most part, face-to-face meeting is over-rated. That said, there are times when sitting across the table from someone yields the best results and companies are wise to make that easy to do and in rare cases, mandate. But changing the rules mid-game isn’t the best way to attract and keep talent no matter how much better it is to be have ideation meetings in the hallways with whiteboards for walls. I have to wonder if some of this is motivated by the need to fill up the empty office space companies own that they have been unable to sell off in today’s awful commercial real estate market.

  20. Craig Sundstrom Avatar
    Craig Sundstrom

    Gaining steam (quite a Victorian expression , isn’t it? maybe we need a greener metaphor). There’s a reason offices – and factories – were developed, and it has a lot to do with the efficiencies and oversight gained from having everyone in the same place; modern technologies offset this…but not completely.
    But it’s up to each company to decide what is best for itself, and it’s pointless to offer unsolicited advice. I’m also curious how, exactly, this fits into a retail forum (?) The inference, perhaps, is that retailers should be encouraging return… presumably for their own self-interest; which of course is not, or should not be, a priority for other companies.

  21. Kenneth Leung Avatar
    Kenneth Leung

    I think for retailers are in a better position to get employees back to office because other parts of the business like stores and warehouses are in person. Retailers before COVID would send their back office employees to the front line so they can see how things work. I think retailers need to be at least hybrid in their back office for a lot of their positions so they can be cross trained on site

  22. Shep Hyken Avatar
    Shep Hyken

    Companies have a choice of how they conduct their business (including their view of the remote of in-office workforce. Employees also have a choice. The goal is for those two sides to align.

  23. Trevor Sumner Avatar
    Trevor Sumner

    Back to the office is gaining steam. For highly creative and collaborative environments such as design, product and marketing strategy or environments where osmosis and mentorship is key to learning and growth (call center sales, early career opportunities), going back to the office is a key accelerator. The cost is employee convenience and it has to be heavily weighed by both the enterprise, and the employee for what life they want and how successful they want to be in a given direction. There are some great new tools like Ro.am that are transforming remote collaboration, and incorporating the serendipity of remote and hybrid work, as well as combatting the stacked 30 minute Zoom meeting day. But for now, there is a real cost in many vocations for not being physically present.

  24. Carlos Arambula Avatar
    Carlos Arambula

    The key issue is productivity. I had remote employees before the pandemic and don’t see the need to change now.

    Remote employees amplify the experienced talent pool available to employers.
    Distance to the office is no longer an obstacle in recruiting and keeping the best talent.

  25. Ricardo Belmar Avatar
    Ricardo Belmar

    This conflict is really uncovering a different issue that’s not specific to remote work or working from home – corporate culture. Work from home initiatives perform quite well when the corporate culture accepts this at every level and not only provides direct support of it but encourages and embraces both behaviors.- working remotely and coming to the office when needed. Many companies are successfully doing this at all sizes. This is especially true of businesses that realized they could hire talented employees from anywhere they were available rather than just near HQ. That means many organizations have employees who have no office e option without relocation. While we may see some high profile layoffs happening, we’re not yet at a point where employees will feel like they “don’t have a choice.” Making blanket statements about productivity declining with remote work is simply wrong. Can it happen? Sure, but again that speaks more to corporate culture than it does to the effectiveness of remote work. These arguments are especially hard to accept when coming from companies who deliver the very solutions other businesses use to implement remote work.

  26. Rachelle King Avatar
    Rachelle King

    In January 2020, no one could have predicted the extreme rise in remote work only a couple of months later; and now, the equal resistance of return to office only a few years later. The truth is, anyone can find pros or cons to either side of the line. But it’s odd how the world seems willing to accept a new normal for everything except remote work. In the end, happy employees are the most retained and productive employees. At some point, this will come to light.

  27. Oliver Guy Avatar
    Oliver Guy

    I have worked flexibly for over 20 years and found moved between offices – often those of my customers – and home almost seamlessly. It requires a different approach and it does not suit everyone. Certainly when focusing on specific deliverables I have continuously produced these quicker at home than in a busy office.
    It may well be that allowing flexible working becomes an employment differentiator – allowing you as an employer to be a more attractive employer. I have also heard of some employers realising that offering flexible work enables them to cast their ‘talent net’ across a much wider geography thus attaining more choice when recruiting.
    My favourite approach that I have seen is focusing on 3 C’s for time in the office – you should be in the office for Coaching, Community or Collaboration.
    All of us need those from time to time and they are possible remotely – but always better in person. Perhaps a way to encourage people to spend time in the office without mandating might be to incorporate the 3Cs into the appraisal system?

39 Comments
oldest
newest
Mark Ryski
Mark Ryski
1 month ago

Workers who have had the opportunity to work from home and have now adjusted their lifestyles accordingly are not only resisting, but prepared to make career moves based on having the ability to work from home. Ultimately, every business needs to determine how to best approach this, but what does appear to be clear is that the push for work from home isn’t going away. And large employers in particular are struggling to incent and/or punish employees who don’t comply. In my own experience, 95% of our team have been work from home since March of 2020, and overall, it’s been a big win for my team and the company.

Ken Lonyai
Ken Lonyai
1 month ago

I don’t buy this argument. There are many counter studies completely left out of this article which are needed for balance.

Also glaringly missing is the fact that these companies are trying to justify their real estate investments on balance sheets which they can’t do with empty office space. To that end, there’s this “Google has put more than 1.4 million square feet of office space in Silicon Valley on the sublease market, as first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.” https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/google-offloading-office-space-in-bay-area-18126629.php Further, the commercial mortgage market is widely reported in financial circles to be on the verge of collapse. When that likely happens, many buildings won’t be operating and workers will be sent home again.

So it’s a total diversion to back indiscriminate policies about worker location rather than putting that energy into better management training.

Ricardo Belmar
Ricardo Belmar
  Ken Lonyai
1 month ago

You’ve just hit on the real issue, not worker productivity! Especially coming from an organization that provides collaborative tools in the market in support of hybrid work. It’s tough to justify that from a product position if you’r not willing to support the remote work concept!

John Lietsch
John Lietsch
1 month ago

It’s funny that we talk about “back-to-office” as a “movement” that gains or loses steam. How did remote and hybrid become the status quo after only three years of a pandemic induced change? Yes, we will revert to the real status quo of physically working in offices. The hope is that companies and managers will adopt a more flexible approach and maybe retain some remote benefits in a hybrid-type environment. As always, the key is compromise but as a country we tend to pull hard to the extremes before we ever find it (if we ever find it). Let’s hope we figure this one out in a way that works for everyone because there are valid pros and cons on both sides.

Paula Rosenblum
Paula Rosenblum
  John Lietsch
1 month ago

RSR has been 100% virtual for 16 years. It’s not all that new, and man, is it efficient

John Lietsch
John Lietsch
  Paula Rosenblum
1 month ago

Agreed. I’ve been hybrid for around 20. I’m extremely impressed that you have not worked in the same room with another human in 16 years; I’m not sure I could have pulled that off. I don’t deny it has worked for some and that it continues to work for many (me included). My intent was just to say that I believe “in-office” has been the rule not the exception (or it wouldn’t be causing such a fuss). My other intent was to suggest there’s room (and need and business cases) for all the models (remote, in-office, hybrid).

Nicola Kinsella
Nicola Kinsella
1 month ago

The world has changed. We now know how to work remotely. Is in person time still valuable? Absolutely. But is mandating 3-days a week in the office a good move? No. Different functions and teams vary greatly in how much they would benefit from in-person time versus remote. Deliverables and outcomes should drive decisions. And managers should be given autonomy to decide what works best for their teams. But cities are offering big tax breaks to large companies if they bring employees back to the office because local businesses are suffering, so we’ll see more mandates in the future.

Jeff Sward
Jeff Sward
1 month ago

Part of this conversation is about the struggle between the upside of collaborative office work and the incredible waste of time involved in commuting. I actually enjoyed my several different office environments. But I also used to have 1.5 hour one-way commutes by car or train every day. Reclaiming 3 hours a day, or 2 hours or 1 hour, is a significant lifestyle boost, and cannot be underestimated. Every company is going to have to make decisions about individual departments and individual employees. Across the board mandates sound fair, but they also sound antiquated and punitive. It will take a lot of work, but the balance between office time, commuting and WFH is evolving quite dramatically.

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
1 month ago

Maybe it is my age, but I don’t understand being more productive working from home. Business is a collegial activity. It is all about new ideas and execution. Yes, it is about that magical hallway conversation. It is about teams working together to accomplish big things. While individuals may say they are more productive in their work, companies are obviously finding that the company is accomplishing more and better when workers are together. It costs more to have workers in the office. These companies have judged it worth the extra cost.

David Spear
David Spear
1 month ago

Gaining steam, with caveats. Certainly, if an employee works in a non-HQ or regional office location, fully remote will likely be the norm. However, associates who are within reasonable distance to a company office, shouldn’t balk at a hybrid schedule. Many companies stated in the article are doing 2-3 days per week, including mine. Individual productivity can be a huge positive with WFH, but I do agree with the statement that better team collaboration and innovation comes from associates coming together in an office environment. Since companies are testing a variety of hybrid models, watch out for ultimate hybrid model, which is WFH Monday, in office Tue-Thu and Fri off. This could be very enticing from a lifestyle and recruiting standpoint.

Bob Phibbs
Bob Phibbs
1 month ago

If the associates and managers have to work in stores, why isn’t it required of any retailer? This isn’t Google we’re talking about, it’s retailers.

Mark Self
Mark Self
1 month ago

Something has to give here. Our offices are located in downtown Raleigh and the foot traffic during the week is almost non-existent. Except for people going in and out of the courthouse! No vibrancy, and while Raleigh has never had a “homeless problem” that garners headlines, it is much easier to be “accosted” while you walk the sidewalks in today’s environment.

I believe WFH / coming back to the office will be a city by city, company by company “trend” and the big losers are going to be city centers. San Francisco for example. Many of the companies mandating returns are not in city centers.

The proverbial genie is out of the bottle, and while you may be asked to show up three out of five days a week, that still represents a huge shift from commuting into a city five days a week. The effects on commercial real estate and downtown restaurants, etc. will be felt for a long time.

Lisa Goller
Lisa Goller
1 month ago

More companies expect staff to return to the office and the momentum will continue as Fall approaches.

Pros of remote/hybrid work:

1. Happy, productive employees (and families).
2. Work-life balance. Do laundry while meeting deadlines.
3. Introverts in particular can focus better and do their best work.
4. Fewer distractions like gossip and politics
5. Accommodates “sandwich generation” workers who care for loved ones.
6. Save time and money. Skip the commute and spend less on gas, coffee, lunches.
7. Access the best talent from anywhere in the world (vs. geographic limitations).

Cons of remote/hybrid work:

1. Unhappy employers if they don’t trust their workers
2. Fragmentation when workers call in to in-person meetings
3. Extroverts in particular miss seeing colleagues in person
4. Workers may resent coming into the office to take Zoom calls.
5. Not everyone is in the office on the same day.

Peter Charness
Peter Charness
1 month ago

The pendulum may stop at a modified work week. Do people need to be in the office every day –no……a few days a week – that would be helpful yes. Particularly new associates, it’s hard to start up in a new company sitting remotely.

DeAnn Campbell
DeAnn Campbell
1 month ago

The real issue is that management can’t figure out how to evolve to function in a remote worker environment — not the workers. Business as usual won’t work anymore so brand new approaches are needed. Cluster hirings in cities and create a coworking space to encourage employee connection in each city. Leverage technology to improve communication and change how performance is measured. Everything works differently in a remote environment, so spend the time needed to figure it out. The payback in the end will mean a far more flexible and innovative company , which is what’s needed to thrive going forward. I swear it’s the people who own commercial office buildings who are keeping this discourse alive!

Paula Rosenblum
Paula Rosenblum
1 month ago

Once upon a time, before the pandemic, the CEO of IBM ordered workers to come back to the office (IBM was a pioneer of work-from-home). The alternative was to take a package and leave.

I think they lost some of their best talent in that move. Seriously knowledgeable people (you know who you are).

Never make blanket rules when people have options. Unemployment is low. People have options. #fail

Paula Rosenblum
Paula Rosenblum
  Paula Rosenblum
1 month ago

PS RSR has been virtual for almost 16 years. It’s fair to say we’ve been both productive and effective.

Doug Garnett
Doug Garnett
1 month ago

That this is a tension between extremes is a problem. That said, it doesn’t appear that companies have learned what seems to be the critical lesson here: Employees do not want to be in an office where their managers might be watching (and commenting) on their every move.

To my mind, this has never been about “home” but rather that employees have discovered how much more they get done when they are able to structure and use their time. Losing incidental contacts is, in truth, a serious loss — but that means companies need to make workplaces more welcoming and less surveilled.

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
  Doug Garnett
1 month ago

If companies have this problem: ” Employees do not want to be in an office where their managers might be watching (and commenting) on their every move,” The company itself has a serious management problem. Working from home is not the solution for the company or the employee.

Perry Kramer
Perry Kramer
1 month ago

There is no once size fits all answer for the question. There are several departments that will probably never go back to full time in the office. There are others that need to be in the office. As an example there is no digital substitution for the feel of the fabric, validate the stitching, collect images, touch the product and collaborate on product design in person. The US was slowly moving towards partial or full remote work when it made sense. The pandemic dramatically accelerated that change and swung the pendulum slightly past the optimal position for employers and more towards the optimal position for employees. Moving it back towards the optional Industry position will be met with significant resistance and turnover.

Dick Seesel
Dick Seesel
1 month ago

A lot of companies are pushing on this issue based on the unspoken problem of vacant office space and facilities for which they continue to incur rent and other expenses. (It’s about dollars and cents, not always about collaboration in the workplace.) Clearly some companies and industries have more leverage over their workers than others in these scenarios.

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
  Dick Seesel
1 month ago

Let’s look at it another way. Companies believe the added expense of operating an office is worth the return of having the team together.

Kai Clarke
Kai Clarke
1 month ago

Yes, companies have every right to order workers back to the office. Most workers were hired in the workplace with the understanding that this was where they needed to work. It was only because of the brutal, system upset caused by Covid 19, that companies were forced to change their workplace requirements. It was never intended to be a permanent change for most companies, and the value of group learning and peer competition that companies thrive and excel in the competitive business environment. Changing this, is not a positive, rewarding situation for most companies, nor should it be.

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
  Kai Clarke
1 month ago

Companies that appreciate “the value of group learning and peer competition that companies thrive and excel in the competitive business environment” will excel. Great comment.

Cathy Hotka
Cathy Hotka
1 month ago

And old song said “how are you gonna keep them down on the farm after they’ve seen gay ‘Paree’?” Remote work is fully part of our culture now, and some of the younger generation haven’t actually worked in the office. Ordering people back will backfire.

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
  Cathy Hotka
1 month ago

Will those that WFH be upset when those that go to the office get promoted, and they don’t?

Paula Rosenblum
Paula Rosenblum
  Gene Detroyer
1 month ago

Depends on their view of work/life balance

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
  Paula Rosenblum
1 month ago

Certainly, if an individual is only interested in what they are doing and not being part of the team, then WFH is a positive individual choice.

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
  Paula Rosenblum
1 month ago

Certainly, if an individual is only interested in what they are doing and not being part of the team, then WFH is a positive individual choice.

Gene Detroyer
Gene Detroyer
  Paula Rosenblum
1 month ago

Certainly, if an individual is only interested in what they are doing and not being part of the team, then WFH is a positive individual choice.

Rameet Kohli
Rameet Kohli
1 month ago

Everyone works remotely for Metrical and for the most part, face-to-face meeting is over-rated. That said, there are times when sitting across the table from someone yields the best results and companies are wise to make that easy to do and in rare cases, mandate. But changing the rules mid-game isn’t the best way to attract and keep talent no matter how much better it is to be have ideation meetings in the hallways with whiteboards for walls. I have to wonder if some of this is motivated by the need to fill up the empty office space companies own that they have been unable to sell off in today’s awful commercial real estate market.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
1 month ago

Gaining steam (quite a Victorian expression , isn’t it? maybe we need a greener metaphor). There’s a reason offices – and factories – were developed, and it has a lot to do with the efficiencies and oversight gained from having everyone in the same place; modern technologies offset this…but not completely.
But it’s up to each company to decide what is best for itself, and it’s pointless to offer unsolicited advice. I’m also curious how, exactly, this fits into a retail forum (?) The inference, perhaps, is that retailers should be encouraging return… presumably for their own self-interest; which of course is not, or should not be, a priority for other companies.

Kenneth Leung
Kenneth Leung
1 month ago

I think for retailers are in a better position to get employees back to office because other parts of the business like stores and warehouses are in person. Retailers before COVID would send their back office employees to the front line so they can see how things work. I think retailers need to be at least hybrid in their back office for a lot of their positions so they can be cross trained on site

Shep Hyken
Shep Hyken
1 month ago

Companies have a choice of how they conduct their business (including their view of the remote of in-office workforce. Employees also have a choice. The goal is for those two sides to align.

Trevor Sumner
Trevor Sumner
1 month ago

Back to the office is gaining steam. For highly creative and collaborative environments such as design, product and marketing strategy or environments where osmosis and mentorship is key to learning and growth (call center sales, early career opportunities), going back to the office is a key accelerator. The cost is employee convenience and it has to be heavily weighed by both the enterprise, and the employee for what life they want and how successful they want to be in a given direction. There are some great new tools like Ro.am that are transforming remote collaboration, and incorporating the serendipity of remote and hybrid work, as well as combatting the stacked 30 minute Zoom meeting day. But for now, there is a real cost in many vocations for not being physically present.

Carlos Arambula
Carlos Arambula
1 month ago

The key issue is productivity. I had remote employees before the pandemic and don’t see the need to change now.

Remote employees amplify the experienced talent pool available to employers.
Distance to the office is no longer an obstacle in recruiting and keeping the best talent.

Ricardo Belmar
Ricardo Belmar
1 month ago

This conflict is really uncovering a different issue that’s not specific to remote work or working from home – corporate culture. Work from home initiatives perform quite well when the corporate culture accepts this at every level and not only provides direct support of it but encourages and embraces both behaviors.- working remotely and coming to the office when needed. Many companies are successfully doing this at all sizes. This is especially true of businesses that realized they could hire talented employees from anywhere they were available rather than just near HQ. That means many organizations have employees who have no office e option without relocation. While we may see some high profile layoffs happening, we’re not yet at a point where employees will feel like they “don’t have a choice.” Making blanket statements about productivity declining with remote work is simply wrong. Can it happen? Sure, but again that speaks more to corporate culture than it does to the effectiveness of remote work. These arguments are especially hard to accept when coming from companies who deliver the very solutions other businesses use to implement remote work.

Rachelle King
Rachelle King
1 month ago

In January 2020, no one could have predicted the extreme rise in remote work only a couple of months later; and now, the equal resistance of return to office only a few years later. The truth is, anyone can find pros or cons to either side of the line. But it’s odd how the world seems willing to accept a new normal for everything except remote work. In the end, happy employees are the most retained and productive employees. At some point, this will come to light.

Oliver Guy
Oliver Guy
1 month ago

I have worked flexibly for over 20 years and found moved between offices – often those of my customers – and home almost seamlessly. It requires a different approach and it does not suit everyone. Certainly when focusing on specific deliverables I have continuously produced these quicker at home than in a busy office.
It may well be that allowing flexible working becomes an employment differentiator – allowing you as an employer to be a more attractive employer. I have also heard of some employers realising that offering flexible work enables them to cast their ‘talent net’ across a much wider geography thus attaining more choice when recruiting.
My favourite approach that I have seen is focusing on 3 C’s for time in the office – you should be in the office for Coaching, Community or Collaboration.
All of us need those from time to time and they are possible remotely – but always better in person. Perhaps a way to encourage people to spend time in the office without mandating might be to incorporate the 3Cs into the appraisal system?