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?!

Good managers should be able to manage staff effectively across multiple sites and locations - how do you think those of us who have worked this way for years manage? Unfortunately there are very poor managers out there who can only manage their staff if they’re sitting right in front of them.

I absolutely bloody love working from home but I'm also a massive introvert and i appreciate I'm very lucky to be able to work from home pretty much full time. My colleagues are all over the country so I'd be sat on my own in my local office anyway.

Wfh has allowed me to increase my hours (and other women in our business have done the same which has reduced our gender pay gap), drop the kids at school and still be back for 9 so 9am calls are certainly not a problem for me. If I couldn't do that and I was commuting to the office I'd be paying £24 a day for Breakfast Club. That's nearly £500 a month. Yes, it's not my employer's problem that I have children but they're a fantastic employer, they trust me and truly care about their people. I do my job well and they provide me with flexibility by allowing me to choose when I go in which is usually once or twice a month. The flexibility, for me, is massive when it comes to my wellbeing. I'm able to get to exercise classes and the gym in the evenings rather than sitting in traffic in a car.

In turn, my employer is rewarded with loyalty because people love working there.

That's still not to say I don't get pestered by people outside my team who love the office environment, sending me a Teams message asking when I'm coming in. (It would be purely for social reasons because I don't work with them at all).

I appreciate I'm fortunate to have a very flexible employer.

Exactly.

If I couldn't do that and I was commuting to the office I'd be paying £24 a day for Breakfast Club.

😱😱 is this a typo? £24 a day!

£8 each a morning for 3 children!

I was recently offered a job in Newcastle for a London company. Brand new office up here.

The job was £8k more than I was on but the hours were 8am-6pm in the city centre office every day because "that's how [they] do it in London", no remote working at all.

The job I had was very flexible in terms of hours and location so it was a big fat no from me.

They told me that I should be thankful they were going to pay me a "London wage" but I had to give a "London effort" to earn it.

Fuck
That

@ChimneyRock In my field employers who do not offer at least hybrid working, are finding it difficult to recruit. So employers can demand all they like. The rest of us can say fuck that

@Hawkerslife oh right of course! I forgot about people having more than one child haha. Even though I have more than one child..

I spent loads and loads of time researching workspaces and ways of working in my previous job and honestly, the best way to do it to keep the majority of people happy is to offer hybrid working. For example, two days a week in an office (minimum). Core days for everyone/certain teams depending on company size.
If it doesn't work for whatever reason, rejiggle the weighting, but showing people you do trust them to work remotely is a great way to boost employee morale.

Is it corporate speak for 'we want to be sure you're not turning your washing machine on or picking up your kids from school'?

I turn my washing machine on when I’m making a coffee - I have no problem whatsoever with that. If I was in the office I’d stand and chat to someone about their weekend while I was doing the same. Picking your kids up from school is not appropriate imo - but their manager should be on top of that, or should have given specific permission for it. I would allow it if it was an emergency and would agree with the staff member when the time would be worked back.

It's not just picking the kids up from school though, is it? I doubt anyone is doing that trip and then dropping them off at a childminder. They're bringing them home, which means they're technically looking after kids whilst meant to be working too, even if they're stuck in front of screens.

If kids are teenagers they do not need childcare while you work for a few hours. They just need someone in the house in case there is an emergency

If kids are teenagers, parents are less-likely to need to do the school run. I was talking about young primary.

I pick my kids up from school at 3.20 and bring them home. They're primary and they don't need contant supervision. They're not babies. They can get themselves a snack and a drink, put the tv on, read etc. Yes, I might not sit at my computer for another 2hrs straight because I will go and see them every so often, but that's no different to being in an office and chatting throughout the course of the day, which working from home I never do any of.

And yes, my employer knows and lots of colleagues do it too. I wouldn't do it if I had a preschooler or a baby but I'm a sensible adult that wouldn't take the piss and my employer trusts me. I'm well aware that if there were any indications I wasn't performing then these benefits could disappear, so I make sure I always do my job well and I'm always willing to put additional hours in to catch up if I need to.

I'd be interested in looking at the demographic of those banging the drum for a return to office working. I suspect there would be a large proportion of parents with older children or people without children.

Its been widely reported that those with young families and younger workers have a preference to hybrid working/wfh because it suits their priorities and work life balance. Gen Z for example have a preference for wfh or hybrid.

As other posters have already said, an employer can demand a return to the office but it will cost them in retention rates and low morale. To access the best candidates in the market (at least in my field) you have to offer hybrid working at the very least. There's no way on earth I'd ever go back to 5 days in the office again and everyone I know in my field agrees. I simply refuse to sit in traffic for 10hrs a week anymore (which I spent many years doing pre-pandemic).

The workplace is undergoing a transformation. Gone are the days of rigid 9-5 schedules and instead we have an era of flexibility and connectivity. Surely within that there can be something that works for everyone?

My work is opposite to what you'd expect. Childless me wants hybrid working to continue as I know it benefits all, especially those with children.

My managers, who have children, would have everyone back in the office if they could.

I imagine it's because they manage the staff more than me, so are the ones fronting the difficulties more than me!

I think those managers need to get used to managing employees on a hybrid basis because it's here to stay for the most part. Perhaps managers should be given training on how to manage effectively when they're dealing with a team of hybrid workers.

Absolutely.

I’d be interested to know what childcare arrangements these managers have - many who are keen to be on the office full time don’t have to rely on limited after-school clubs.

I think it depends on your experience in the role and team. I have junior team members who feel really isolated working from home and established members who don't want to be in the office. WFH you miss out on the 'water cooler' conversations, the osmosis of sharing knowledge and working together. Building a good team culture and ethos is more difficult remotely. Paradoxically, I have colleagues who profess to prefer working from home but then complain about feeling isolated too. It's a tough balance.

We currently do hybrid which seems to work generally 2 days in the office with set days. This seems to be the most popular compromise but admittedly we still have people complaining.

An added challenge is that we've had two instances of colleagues basically taking the piss not working/ not being productive at home and one even caught watching TV in the communal space in the office (not on a break). Really makes me wonder how much work some people are doing. It's also more challenging to manage underperformance when someone is remote working.

Whenever I feel fed up about my job, I can at least thank my lucky stars that I don't work with anyone who spouts the tedious corporate bollocks evident on this thread.

I think some people, myself included definitely benefit from working from people in person.
But I fully believe that the push by companies back to office is NOT for any employees benefit. It's all a control thing.
FWIW my husbands company is doing a 2 day a week return to office, but not set days and their company is global so they regularly collaborate with teams based in other countries so even when he goes into the office he spends all day on video calls with his UK and global based colleagues.
The companies offices have massively been reduced as well so now there's not enough desks for everyone and big waitlists for the few meeting rooms.
Totally pointless!

"WFH you miss out on the 'water cooler' conversations, the osmosis of sharing knowledge and working together."

As a lower paid worker, I find these so called water cooler moments are always white men patronising me, and older woman, by telling me things I already know. I seek out people whose knowledge and experience I need. Those who are most knowledgeable about the technical aspects of my job are always quiet people just plodding on with the job. Not the arrogant men who "pass on their knowledge" at the water cooler.

A lot of the issues with management is they often have zero understanding what it is like to be someone with a lot of technical knowledge, be lower paid, and be an older woman who is pretty often dismissed by others.

Yeah I've had some of that too but I've found men don't need to be in person to patronise :) But also I've had some positive moments and learned on the job/accidently by listening out for things I wouldn't have otherwise learned which has been useful for my own development. I learn to tune out the rubbish (speaking as a woman in her 50s).

I get the strong eye roll at corporate speak but also, I get annoyed at colleagues who are so desperately unhappy at work, won't leave and bring everyone down with negativity.

@SapphOhNo why are you assuming I am unhappy at work or at all negative?
I am actually just pretty quiet.