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?!

This is where experienced change leads are invaluable, giving space to find and establish value from all the positioning.

I am one of those who's the only person in my team based in my office. I still enjoy going in for my 2 days. During this last year I've started sitting (it's a hot desk environment) by a mixed group of colleagues who go in the same day. Built good relationships, had a great Xmas night out with them. These people would never be in my "Teams calls" group if I only WFH as I don't work with them, totally diff departments. But, they have insights from their work areas which totally have helped me in mine, from basic things like better ways of using company software to ideas for planning work events, how they are managing issues my team are also encountering etc.
I had to onboard new starts during the COVID years, and doing entirely remotely was incredibly hard work. My work is very detail specific and really not easy to grasp and explain to others entirely remotely, even with screen sharing as often need to leap between several different documents/publications to explain a point. So much easier when you can sit together, point and check understanding.
All of that said, I do also enjoy my WFH days but I'm a big advocate for hybrid. I have a colleague whose worked at our place for decades but rarely comes to the office, despite mandates. There are loads of be staff in the 5 years since covid, she doesn't know any of them and they have never seen her before. So she doesn't come in as she says doesn't know anyone, so now in a self fulfilling circle.
For what it's worth, I'm fairly introverted and my job is not one needing a lot of collaboration with those in my actual office but I still see the benefit of mixing in person.

ill admit i do prefer the office due to the social aspects of it

100% Remote working/WFH was dreadful for our new employees especially the most junior who were often in their first office role. Training over Teams was really hard and they weren't able to bond over making a brew etc in breakout sessions the way you do in real life. Most of them are also in shared houses etc so working from a little desk in their bedroom or shared living space. It's pretty shit for them. Of the new team I built in 2023 only 2 have left, one to go to back teaching and one to take a hands on role on a college. The other 14 are still there and thriving and earning promotion along the way.

Although the drive is towards paperless etc my team is heavily reliant on receiving post and sending formal offer letters and this does require people in person. Usually the lowest paid person.

I'm at a stage now where I'd be happy in one day a week on the office. I get to catch up with peers, brief Collab time and then onto other work. Great. I am doing two which is not great for my health and I'm spending most of my time dealing with stuff other managers should manage but because they don't come in then I pick up their slack.

I can see it's different if you manage teams across time zones and across countries or if you have never been in a shared base with your team. If you're all part of the marketing or compliance sections of BinkyBanks food Co then just get on with it

I worked for a service which had one base in a specific place, which most people could not go to - because of the area I covered, it was a 2 hour drive in each direction to get to the base, for example. The people who worked at the base definitely got better treatment with regards to opportunities and advancement. Lots of things would be decided in impromptu meetings - meaning unless you were physically present, you did not have a voice. The pandemic was an eye opener for the service - much more proper inclusion and discussion and people truly being included for the first time. The service I work for now means we mostly work remotely and there are quarterly meetings you can attend in person. Its a much more pleasant atmosphere.

I made a decision in September to start going into the office most days and it has made a huge difference to my motivation and engagement. At home I do my job as in I complete my assigned tasks, but I don’t have ideas in the same way I do through incidental conversations at work.

Sitting in the same room as colleagues definitely promotes trust and collaboration, and it makes you visible. I’ve received green lights and funding for projects purely by showing up and being in the room at meetings where decisions were made. I’ve been put on a major bid because of a chance conversation during a coffee break. None of that would have happened if I’d been at home. They just wouldn’t have thought of me. So I can absolutely see why people (mostly men) going into the office will be given opportunities and promotions over those who aren’t.

In our business out of sight is out of mind. I work in a sector facing a number of financial constraints and those who are visible are seen as more dedicated, reliable, and collegiate, and this will stand us in good stead if redundancy becomes an issue.

I think it really depends on the job.

While we can work at home if needed, it's the exception rather than the rule. Trainers deserve a good grounding in the job and deserve to be able to ask question as and when required.

Having conversations around tricky areas, for us, work far better face to face. So that's what happens. It works for us and our roles.

I enjoy being in the office having informal conversations - much easier in person. But as a team we all make the effort to be in the office on the same days otherwise we just spend the day on headsets at desks with no value. I enjoy the 50/50 split WFH and in office. I tend to go the gym when in the office or meet with friends and colleagues after work which make the commute feel more bearable (that said it's only 15 mins on the train).

Some aspects of work are definitely done better at home.

However, the younger people in my team who need to develop skills around influencing, learning how to put people at ease, learning subtle social cues such that you can handle yourself easily with difficult/senior stakeholders - these are all much more easily learned around other people.

It feels very pronounced to me at the moment because it's these very people who drag their heels over coming into the office. Yet until they get better at these skills, their careers won't advance - and I'm having to delicately explain this to them. It's not enough to be absolutely brilliant sat behind a computer - not for my line of work.

My issue with WFH is what is commonly said on here - doing household chores, going for walks in work hours. If I need to ask my team a question I need an answer now, not in an hour's time. If people are in the office, aside from meetings, they are usually at their desk and can respond in a timely manner, not when they finish an task not related with work.

Good luck with that thought. The relevant term here is "back to the office" - in other words, back to their workplace. Your childcare responsibilities, whatever sex you are, has nothing to do with the employer. And "custom and practice" is a much over-rated concept when your workplace, in your contract is the office.

A very different matter from people employed to work from home from the get-go, who may have a stronger argument.

People have a major naivity about employment tribunals and just how far they will go or can go. No tribunal will tell an employer how to run their business. They don't have the power to do that. They cannot substitute their own opinions for that of the employer. The employer has an employee or employees who have worked from home because of an extraordinary circumstance which prevented them and many others going into the office that they were contracted to work from/ The employer has consdiered their business needs and the productivity subsequent to that and decided it does not work for them. No tribunal would or could decide on an employers business judgement. If they decide that they understand the employers needs better than the employer themselves, that is a shoe in for an EAT - it is beyond the scope of the tribunal.

I'm a lawyer so I don't have a major naivety about employment tribunals given I visit them myself frequently.

A tribunal won't tell an employer how to run their business but they'll order an employer to pay compensation if they break the law.

www.harpermacleod.co.uk/insights/mandatory-office-working-and-the-risk-of-discrimination/ have a read of the 'discrimination element' paragraph. Childcare, caring for elderly relatives and disability very much is an issue employers should be alive to and not to be would be naive!

It’s a buzz word that’s bandied about in order to justify dragging staff back to the office by employers who don’t really trust their staff to work effectively from home.

My team and clients are spread over at least 6 cities. It doesn't make sense to me either that I have to come in to air with 2 people I interact with the least because they are from the same office and put on my headphones for meetings.

But at the end of the day it's about micro management. As much as management wants to act cool that they trust you do your work, no they don't fully trust everyone. And the way option is to make the 90% who don't take the piss to show face.

As a lawyer, I assume that you noticed as I said that the employee in the quoted case was employed as a homebased worker - and therefore no "return to the office" was in question? This is an entirely different circumstance than this thread or I was talking about - and it is also an ET judgement which is not legally binding.

Return to the office was inevitable. Organisations can only ride so long on an existing core of knowledge which erodes.

Back to the office about conformity and control. As a disabled women, WFH has been life changing. I have been lucky enough to WFH for 30 years. I was self employed for about 3 years and in my current position for more than 10 years. You are produ tive or not, location has little to do with it.

Most people have a lot of meetings over Teams. Coming onto the office to talk to colleagues in different cities over virtual meetings makes no sense.

Office culture favours extroverts. Being in the office is horrendous. There are insufficient meetings rooms or places to take virtual meetings. It is an absolute sensory overload to sit on a bank of desks with groups on people on various back to back calls.

We have in office days once a month. I also block my diary with focus time so I can catch up with people properly. Otherwise, I mostly go into the office on days when most people do not.

It's not about collaboration. It's about bums on seats and being seen 9 to 5. Regardless of how hard people work or productive they are.

I was out with a friend the other day when they asked me if I recognised a person across the other side of the cafe. I said that I didn't. Friend was trying to figure out where they might know this other person from. A bit of Facebook stalking revealed that the mystery person was actually one of their team from work. The whole team WFH and friend had never actually met the colleague in person! A bit embarrassing for friend as they are the other person's line manager!
I'd say that's a pretty good reason to get people back in the office at least some of the time.

Good interview answer. Never seen it actually happen

I work in nhs on projects and line manage project healthcare workers. I do not need to work clinically anymore but the others may do. We have to be in 80% of our time incase they are needed clinically. In the 2 years I have been doing this role we have never been needed. We are hybrid but as we take it in turns to work from home, all meetings are on teams. We have a great teams chat for asking for ideas or working collaborative, using share point etc.

my old team were 50% wfh. I think my productivity had gone down as I am getting interrupted for random chats and open plan offices are not great for meetings. I spend my time with earphones in.

but it does give me a better routine and work life balance. Maybe my productivity was because I couldn’t stop on time at home.

How do you not recognise someone you line manage?? Had your friend never had zoom meetings with the cameras on?

If you like😂

Pros and cons for me. I like working in my sweats and not commuting but this is my first WFH job and I have found it much harder building relationships over teams than I would in person.
I'm a very sociable person and teams just doesn't do it for me.

From a work point of view I do work harder at home.

Your friend obviously doesn’t check in often enough with their team! How on earth do they line manage someone and not recognise them from their meetings?

Separately, how do you think those of us who manage teams across the region or work with colleagues across the country recognise each other when we meet in person?

My company have tried that and sometimes i've sat there by myself in the office. My husband's office have tried to bring people back 3-4 days a week but don't actually have the desk space (they downsized during COVID) they need so quite often he'll turn up and not have a space to work.

I work much better at home, I get too distracted in the office, it's too cold, there's too much background noise, people just walk up to your desk when you're trying to work. Also I have a long commute and I start super early so by the time i've woken up at 4am and sat on a train for an hour i'm exhausted before i've even started. At home I can wake up a bit later, walk the dog and still start at my usual time.

I also clock watch in the office. At home i'm more likely to stay late and finish up a task, in the office i'm out the door at x time irregardless of if i'm in the middle of something or not.