Will Office Work Disappear?

The emergence of Covid-19 forced businesses to make the most significant reinvention of the work process of our time. We proved that people can work anywhere. The biggest social experiment – working from home, the so-called home office - downplayed the barriers to working away from the office.

We can work from home, but with a certain level of efficiency. Virtual meetings have replaced in-person ones. We proved that even from a distance we can perform our tasks just as successfully as if we were in the office.

We can, but it is not the best idea in the long run.

The office simply cannot go away. It creates a host of necessities - for our effectiveness, for our sanity and for our humanity. Our work will probably never go back to the way it was. Many companies had productive remote work approaches even before the pandemic made them necessary.

Working from home undoubtedly offers some wonderful advantages - avoiding the commute to work, a positive impact on the environment, more time with the family and a better work–life balance. Based on these advantages alone, companies are likely to continue encouraging remote work, but not entirely. The best strategies combine working in the office and working from home. Eliminating the office altogether is not the best option and we should not think in “either-or” terms. The workplace offers all kinds of critical values - and it simply cannot and should not disappear. Here are a few reasons why:

The office is crucial to our social life. We are social beings and we crave connections with other people. People may have different preferences about whether to work in a team or on their own, depending on their personality, but everyone needs some level of contact. Face-to-face communication contributes to all kinds of well-being, including physical, cognitive and emotional. On the other hand, a lack of human connection impairs mental health and physical health. Part of this connection can be effectively facilitated by technology, but not all of it. According to a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey, 71% of people struggle to adapt to remote work, and according to additional research, people working from home report mental health challenges. Moreover, the longer people work at home, the more likely they are to report problems with sadness and fatigue. We need each other and we understand ourselves best through our relationships with others. Working in the office feeds this need for togetherness, whether we are working shoulder to shoulder creating a new idea, solving a thorny problem around the conference table or simply drinking our coffee together during breaks.

The workplace is essential to our creativity. Companies live and die by their ability to adapt and respond to customers and the market in new ways, and only creativity and innovation can keep them successfully in this game. Yes, we can be creative anywhere, but when we are physically together we are much more effective at brainstorming. We can build on each other's ideas without the awkwardness that arises from the delays when we interact virtually. Successful ideas depend on the rapid exchange of concepts and the flow of dialogue, unimpeded by the interruptions of never-fast-enough technology. Creativity is also facilitated by the unplanned encounters we have in the office. We get a new idea because we talked to a colleague we do not usually see, or we are inspired toward a new solution because of information we overheard while standing in line to get our lunch in the cafeteria. Perhaps those who do individual work can succeed by working exclusively from home, but teams work better when they can gather in an office to combine their best thinking. In addition to the co-creation that happens within teams, organizations need collaboration between and across teams - and nothing offers the same value as the office for achieving that goal.

Perhaps those who do not work in teams can succeed by working exclusively from home, but teams work better when they can gather in an office to combine their best thinking, their best ideas. In addition to the co-creation of ideas that happens within teams, companies sometimes also need a direct connection and collaboration between different teams to implement those ideas – and there is no better place than the office for achieving that goal.

The office also provides the critical feeling that we are not alone, but are part of something big. Every company knows that in order to achieve powerful results, it must ensure that people feel they share the same goals and that the way to achieve them is through specific sub-goals. Employees have to “row” in one and the same direction. Our physical presence in the office reinforces this feeling, and according to an SHRM survey, 65% of the companies surveyed report that remote work does exactly the opposite.

Since the earliest times, people have gathered in places with a common purpose - whether for celebration, mourning, childcare or learning. People have always gathered to inspire their sense of community. In the modern world, the office provides this “esprit de corps”. Being together in one place reminds us that we are united and part of something bigger than ourselves.

We crave variety and the workplace provides it. We have proved to ourselves that we can do everything from home. We can shop, eat, exercise, socialize and yes, we can work. But we want the variety that comes from going out - to look around, to enjoy a restaurant, to go to the gym, to gather with friends and, last but not least, to go to our workplace. Monotony bores us and sooner or later each of us seeks some stimulation through experiences. The office is one of them.

We also need to set ourselves some healthy boundaries. Before we had to barricade ourselves in our homes, we traditionally talked about how to balance work and our personal lives - how to leave work at the office and keep the focus on life at home. But through the pandemic it became exactly the opposite. People take advantage of leaving their homes and going to the office to concentrate on work. Work is part of our lives (whether we work for ourselves or for someone else), and a fulfilling life encompasses the efforts that come from making a contribution through whatever kind of work we do. Going to an office allows us to immerse ourselves in our tasks with fewer distractions than at home.

Empathy and trust are strengthened by physical presence. Team members who are regularly together can more easily attune to one another, help and support each other, and learn from each other. Trust is built through proximity, and according to research, physical distance can turn into psychological distance. More regular interaction can help us understand people's responses and appreciate their point of view more strongly. When we see each other more often, we tend to identify with others and give them the benefit of the doubt. Social capital is the goodwill, communication, connections and shared understanding that allow us to work together most effectively - and it is built more effectively when people are together. The alternative is a devaluation of social capital, which can occur when people do not have access to the power of their workplace. Leaders can also more easily focus on employees and their needs. Instead of having to check in formally, they can easily see non-verbal cues and understand when an employee has a question or needs guidance. All of this can happen virtually, but it is not as easy. When connections require more effort, there is a risk they will break down - a challenge that is avoided in the shared workplace.

In conclusion, working from home will probably never go away, and that is a good thing. It has many advantages, the main one being that it allows us to get closer to achieving a work-life balance. But the workplace should not disappear either. It is crucial for people, teams and companies.

We can do so much from home - and do it relatively efficiently and productively - but it is simply not ideal. We are better when the office is part of our overall work experience - in addition to working from home. The workplace had a place in our business, society, communities and lives - a place that we must maintain.