Going back to the office or not?

Well first week back at work after the two week break for festivities. I nearly wrote first week back in the office, but with hybrid working, I suspect for some, this first day still means working from home. Also in various parts of the country the snow and flooding would make commuting challenging Personally I headed to our Bristol office. We still have a choice of where we can work with hybrid contracts, but I read yesterday about how many companies are now forcing or requiring staff to come into the office.

This was covered in a Guardian article, ‘It didn’t come as a surprise’: UK workers on being forced back into the office.

Some welcome cuts to hybrid working but others feel less productive and are considering change of job or country.

Many employers are mandating the return to the office, in this other piece on the Guardian website.

The post-festive return to work in the dark days of January is never easy, but this new year is shaping up to be tougher than usual for UK workers. Not only must they brave days of severe cold and ice, but many face the end of post-pandemic hybrid working.

The article continues…

Such orders are provoking fresh battles between employees and their bosses, who believe staff need to be brought together to foster collaboration, creativity and a sense of belonging.

The challenge I find with that, is with a geographically distributed team, even when you are in the office you are spending a lot of time on online calls and meetings. The value in being physically in the office is lost. 

Of course if everyone is in the same office, then I can see the value of being together. Though if one person isn’t, then it can be exclusionary. Additionally for some people the physical office isn’t necessarily the best place for them to work effectively. There is an assumption often made that people all work in the same pattern and prefer the same kind of environments. This is, to me, obviously not true, but not everyone sees it that way.

I do find that a social office is a nice place to be, but from a productivity perspective, less so, unless we have decided as a team to do something together. Also with the increase in the number of online meetings, offices don’t necessarily have the spaces to accommodate these. I know if I have a series of online meetings, I will more than likely work from home, as the office isn’t the best or most conducive space for online calls and meetings.

I personally see no value in being together physically in-person if the event is purely a transmission of information. That could be done online, actually probably more effective (for me) as a document rather than a presentation.

Where I see real value in being together in-person is for planning, problem solving, analysis, and the suchlike. You can do these kinds of things online, but for some (including me) I find these work better when in-person.

Should people be back in the office? Well a lot depends on what their job and role is. I do not see the point of forcing people to come to the office to spend the day at a desk in online meetings. There is value in people meeting in-person for some activities as well, so encourage that, but just  to work, then why?

The other thing, forcing people into the office, will have an impact on morale, as people will resent the time and money spent on commuting into the office as well. This means they will resent their employer, which will result in reduced productivity and other issues.

I have always thought that if you want people to come to the office, you should use more carrot than stick. Encourage people to come to the office. That could be late starts to allow for off-peak rail travel, or less congested roads. Coffee and food is also a good motivator, provide lunch on the less busy days.  That is something you see a lot, even when office working isn’t forced, is how empty the offices are on a Monday and a Friday. If no one goes into the office on these days, then no one will go into the office on these days, as the social interactions and collaboration won’t be happening as there isn’t anyone to socialise or collaborate with.

I don’t know what the answer is, but working with your staff is critical, and review what is happening as well. For me flexibility is key, working from home, working in the office, there are for me many factors, as I am sure there is for others.