Return to office: what’s this obsession with collaboration

[Lantern12]

More of a rant than anything else, but wondered if others felt the same!

More and more companies seem to be pushing a return to office now (including my own, so I am biased) and the narrative it always the same - mostly that we “collaborate” and build relationships better in person. Is this actually true? Is there any evidence for this?

Some of the strongest relationships I’ve built in my career (clients and colleagues) have been forged over video calls. I find it a lot easier to speak to people 1:1 from a private space than on an open office floor where I feel everyone is overhearing my conversations, and I appreciate the peace and quiet between calls. I also come up with all my best ideas sat quietly thinking about things, never sat in a meeting room with others.

When leaders insist we build relationships and collaborate better in person I think “who are you to tell me how I work best?”. Maybe for them the buzz of an office helps them, but they can’t just insist this is the case for everyone.

Who’s with me on this?!

If your paid to work you shouldn’t be more or less productive depending on your location

my old job they brought office staff back in due to pisstakers

the evidence there was they didn’t take the piss by slopping off in an office environment

@rwalker piss takers still take the piss in the office. I have seen this everywhere I have worked

You miss out on unplanned interactions if you’re always WFH and it is easier to do this at pace and respond dynamically when you’re together rather than sending an invite, trying to get hold of people etc.

I like wfh so I miss out on unplanned interactions

I think there will be some employment tribunal claims coming through from women that have been mandated back into the office. By mandating a return to the office, companies are implementing a practice that disproportionately affects women because (and it has been acknowledged by tribunals to be the case), women pick up the bulk of childcare. If a company cannot justify the mandate with a legitimate business reason then there is a risk of an indirect discrimination claim based on sex.

For example, a woman has worked successfully from home since March 2020 and received consistently good appraisals and bonuses but her company is now mandating she comes into the office 4 days a week. As a result, said woman will have to reduce her working hours to fit around commuting time and school/nursery pick ups so she is now financially disadvantaged. The company doesn't have a leg to stand on when justifying the return to the office when she's clearly capable of doing her job well from home. As such she'd likely have grounds for a claim for indirect sex discrimination.

So companies absolutely can mandate a return but it definitely isn't without risk and it's not a simple case of 'your base location is an office we expect you in'. I haven't even got started on the whole custom and practice argument...

I think it's most important for my junior staff and to be in the office when they're around in person too. I have a loose arrangement with my team that we'll be in the same days or try to coordinate because there's a lot to be gained through informal coaching-type conversations in person which is not as easily replicated online.

I think there will also be tribunal claims from disabled staff. Wfh has meant some people can access full time work, who can not normally.

Absolutely. From what I've seen wfh has levelled the playing field for both women and disabled employees.

There's not really any evidence for collaboration, although IIRC there is evidence that it helps create more of a 'company culture', although presumably you have to have one in the first place for that to work!

It’s a meaningless word that many companies are bandying about as the reason why everyone should be back in the office.

There are some roles and tasks which absolutely need to be done in the office - but a blanket rule of a certain number of days in the office is often pointless. I manage a team across multiple locations- I can do that from anywhere. I go in 2 days a week but I do it because I enjoy the lunchtime chats and the change of scene , nothing else. I sit in my own office in a corridor - I can work in the same way from my own office at home. There are many of us who are the same - but we adhere to the 2 day in the office minimum. The amount of face to face collaboration on those 2 days varies tremendously.

I do think that collaboration works better in person. However, the rest of my team work in another office which is over 100 miles from mine, so if I go in to the office I'm sat on the same Teams calls as I would be at home. So it makes zero difference. I do travel to the office where the rest of the team are based at least once a month, and find this increases collaboration, but being in my own office is pointless.

When I was a bit younger I formed great relationships in the office - many became good friends. I loved the banter of being in a team working with colleagues.

Now I am older I find I work much more efficiently at home. I still like the office but I don't have banter any more nor do I meet people. I spend hours on online meetings sitting in office.

I would like to think the younger people still have the banter and make friends but I don't know.

Have you worked in a call centre?

They are the most KPI driven environments I've ever had the displeasure of being involved in.

They can measure every key stroke, system access, listen to every call back, monitor bathroom usage by the the second.

This is the same both in the office and at home, and yet no differences have been found when it has been examined. The civil service did a huge internal review on it but they were all forced back to offices (where they hot desk away from direct colleagues) because the tories toff mates own all the large coffee shops and sandwich chains in the city centres.

Source. https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/no-difference-between-working-from-home-and-office-says-hmrc-chief

There are some tasks that I find easiest in the office like meetings and mail-outs. But I can do the rest faster on my own, so if I'm in the building I end up working in a pod by myself anyway.

I managed to get involved in two cross departmental projects last year, one of which I know pushed me into the next bracket for bonus. They happened because I was telling a colleague about an idea I had had and they mentioned that their department was discussing something very similar and should we talk.

I would have been very unlucky to have come across these people (very large organisation) outside my own team with just my own Zoom meetings and it wouldn’t have happened.

I appreciate anecdote does not equal data and not everyone is looking for enhance or add anything to their day to day.

Make of this what you will....

I've spent many years leading business change as a result of acquisitions and mergers. My first rule was to bring the teams together. Whatever people say (after 35 years I heard every argument) sitting together breaks down barriers and aids collaboration. I'm not saying that remote working doesn't work, for some types operational processes it can be just as effective as co-location. However when it comes to the problem solving and creative operations, the easiest path is to get everyone together. It aids production, improves the quality and results in more performant and powerful teams.

When I took my job, it was sold as a pretty much entirely remote role. In the time since I've started, we've been asked to return to the office for at least 3 days per week. This isn't a huge problem for me as I live in the same city as our office, but there were people who moved away during the remote-only period (and yes, of course you can say 'but your contract never explicitly said fully remote', but they were hiring people on that proviso) and are now having to negotiate special arrangements or pay out £££ to either move back or commute more regularly.

I don't mind coming into the office but equally, so much of my job could be done from home (calls with teams or clients in other countries), it's a bit galling to schlep in most days at the behest of management who themselves are never in, and who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time poring over attendance data. I understand the need for more junior staff, or less experienced/new joiners to be in, and I understand the benefits of networking - but when the team heads and managers are exempt from the office attendance requirement, it rings a bit hollow.

My local team is no more or less productive when we're WFH or in the office; we don't have enough space for everyone to be in at once so even if 80% of the team are in the office, we still have to do all over video call because there's always someone who has to be working from home, and we can't just go into a meeting room because there's always some interminable tech issue that means Teams doesn't work from there.

Of course if you are leading massive business change you have to bring people together.
I agree this needs to happen, but I have always found in those processes it is the loudest voices who are heard.

Do you think it’s as simple as left brain vs. right brain?
Jobs that are more left-brain focused—problem solving, spreadsheets, accounting, coding—seem to work better remotely.
Whereas jobs that rely on emotional intelligence, creativity, and bouncing ideas around seem to thrive more in person?

I suppose it depends on the individual, the context, and the type of work.

I'm an introvert ( probably also on the spectrum) and I have always found team work and collaboration face to face ( or actually in any way) extremely stressful and counter productive.

Open plan offices, in which I worked for all of my life , were anathema to me, so wfh has been an absolute gift and I have done some of my best ever work in this way.

No interruptions, no struggling to zone out the mindless chatter, no trying to overcome the horror of the noisy, crowded commute, the bright lights in the office or the sweltering temperatures.

We aren't all jolly, loud, sociable team players. Some of us are incredibly gifted but hampered by environmental factors.

And it would behove those in authority to understand that

@Words I totally agree. But managers seem to want us all to be loud jolly team players, even when it is not necessary for the job role.
I am quiet. In office team meetings I just get ignored as the loud people take over. In zoom team meetings whoever is chairing seems to notice the quiet people more and ensure we can contribute when we have something to add.

Its the electronic raised hand in zoom team meetings that has been a game changer for me.

Me too @MerryMaker. I have also been far more confident in challenging and contributing than ever before.

So the absolute exact opposite of what the back to the office people are saying in my case.

Plus I do actually enjoy chatting to,people over Teams. It's so much easier than face to face for me.

I agree - existing projects and static teams (BAU) can be well managed WFH. I find any transformation is better done with people physically together.