Back to the workplace

Remote work has been around for a good long time, and even prior to covid many companies were allowing working from home (WFH) for all of their employees some of the time, or some of their employees some of the time, or some of their employees all of the time. But all of their employees all of the time? It took covid to turn that into a reality.

WFH was never without controversy. It destroys morale. People don't actually work, they're just goldbricking from home. It destroys downtown areas, and kills convenience stores and sandwich shops. WFH is just not productive. 

For years, I did freelance work for a company which provided WFH technology. During my years working for them, I wrote white papers, blog posts, brochures, web copy, customer stories, webinar scripts, etc. touting the joys and benefits of remote work. (I haven't thought of this outfit in years, but just glanced at their website and saw that a customer story I wrote nearly eight years ago is still featured on their home page. Which kind of cracked me up. Too bad I didn't get paid for content longevity!)

The company, itself, frowned on working from own except on rare occasions, for rare exceptions. (I did check things out and it looks like they've changed their tune.)

Anyway, covid proved that, for many positions, in many companies, working remotely worked out just fine when it came to productivity and employee satisfaction. 

But just fine wasn't perfect.

The executives of corporate America are stepping up efforts to get workers back into the office, using a combination of threats and incentives to get employees to give up the work-from-home lifestyle they adopted in the first years of the covid-19 pandemic. (Source: Washington Post)

Some big names are getting in on the push to bring workers back into the office.

Martha Stewart has gotten in on the act, arguing for a return to the office. So is Kevin O'Leary, one of the business gang on Shark Tank. 

Then there are the big name companies. Google's one of them, and they sound suspiciously like that company I did freelance writing for in the wayback. 

Google has pitched its video conferencing and cloud services to other companies as ways to enable remote work, recreation and education. But it’s also been one of the biggest companies pushing for a return to the office.

They're requesting that employees start coming into the office three days a week. They're using a carrot and stick approach: lots of perks (like free food), and the stick of stating that noncompliance would be considered in performance reviews.  

Salesforce is wooing workers back, promising to make donations to local charities for "each day workers come in to the office."

Amazon. Disney. Farmer's Insurance. Starbucks. AT&T. All are among the ranks of companies segueing from fully remote to hybrid. 

Three days a week seems to be a magic number for many of the back-to-the-office schemes.

That's true for my sister Trish's company.

She's been working home 100% of the time since covid began - and loving it. Working from home, she's been able to avoid a rotten commute, and stay in bed later. But she's heading back to the office for three days a week.

Trish is the type of employee you can 100% trust to do her job remotely. 

But she's also the type of employee that a company might want to have around up close and personal. She's been with her company forever, knows all the ropes, the history of everything, who-does-what-to-whom. However much a drag it is for her, for the company to have her around in person so that younger and newer employees can tap her experience and wisdom is a good thing.

Fortunately, she'll still be able to avoid the two worst commuting days: Monday and Friday.

I'm a believer that there's a lot of good to be had when people work together. 

Some argue that it's better for collaboration and innovation. Maybe. Maybe not. 

Some flat out state their belief that working from home = not working at all. (If that's the case, it's a management problem.)

But part of a successful workplace is built on the relationships forged among employees. And that's just plain more likely (and easier) if employees get to see each other face to face at least some of the time.

In my last full time job, I had two colleagues I became good friends with.

The company was an agglomeration of a dozen of so smaller companies in like spaces. I worked at the official headquarters, but my friend Sean worked in Syracuse, while John worked in the DC-area. 

We stayed connected daily via phone and early versions of text, but what cemented our relationship was when Sean and John blew into HQ every month or so for a meeting. We'd have lunch together. Take breaks to meander around the parking lot. Go out to dinner. We got to really know each other. 

I don't believe that if our experiences had all been virtual they would have turned into true friendships. And making friendships is an important aspect of working in the office, from the employee  - as opposed to the employer - perspective.

I've made lifelong friendships in two places: school and work. Hell, I met my husband at work.

Not everyone wants to make friends or meet husbands or wives at work. By the time you're further along in your career, or even at the tail end (like my sister Trish), you've made your friends, met your spouse, etc. You'd be happier to work remotely full time. And maybe even more productive.

But I think that, especially for younger folks, just starting out, people should think twice before fully digging in their heels when it comes to going back to the office - as many are threatening to do.

I think I've heard all the arguments, pro and con. 

And, as much as I think my sister Trish has earned the right to work fully from home, I'm on the side of those arguing for a return to the office. Three days a week sounds about right to me. We'll see how it goes.