To home, or to office?
- Marcel Kotowski
- Jan 14, 2024
- 1 min read
Every day the discussion on going back to the office or continuing to work remotely grows, and it is evident that companies struggle.
Without discussing the pros and cons, I see the situation from a different angle – change management.
Some companies' senior managers find it difficult to accept that their employees can work without being seen. I can see more companies pulling their workers back to many-hours-a-day commutes to congratulate themselves on using their "human resources" more effectively – some big names like Amazon, Activision, Disney, Starbucks, and others are among them.
And what do employees do? Some happily oblige and waste the company's time behind their firm's desks. Last week Fortune published an article which suggests the real reason for the slump
in productivity is the return to the office, and some of its conclusions are genuinely challenging.
It is better to acknowledge and get the best out of change when the change happens. Those who resist often resemble XIX century Luddites, fighting against the inevitable future. From my experience, measuring productivity by someone's presence is a poor management practice.
Offices should now be incubators of creativity, stronger relationships and collaboration – for that, in my opinion, five days a week is overkill.
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