In the long-forgotten days of the pandemic, when workers went home and cracked on to the benefit of their employers, there were a few bright stars amongst a tanking stock market. Microsoft was one, providing the collaboration and communication tools to keep everyone connected and productive.
Much has changed since then. Return to office mandates are announced weekly. Gathering around the water cooler to talk Severance theories trumps all else. Culture. Teamwork. Productivity.
That said, there are few objective academic studies that suggest any of these three much-lauded benefits are any more or less likely to be achieved in the office. Many suggest the third, productivity, is generally greater in remote teams.
Comments in forums where disillusioned discuss the reality of returning to office life tout few benefits. Some note the irony of working all day in an office yet only interacting remotely with colleagues from other regions. They also point out that travel bans, meant to cut costs, prevent in-person meetings that could strengthen company culture.
If WFH beneficiaries now mock its advantages, expect more RTO mandates. Solution providers will probably see little impact on sales, which may explain their confidence. Most work still happens on platforms like Teams; Microsoft’s own research shows the average worker receives over 150 Teams messages daily. As a result of this deluge, the study found remote workers enjoyed increased productivity in the evening when engagement tails off, while office workers highlight increased stress.
It seems despite the benefits of WFH, the business zeitgeist is to drag people back to the office. Ironically, a review of all announcements highlights a common cited reason: it’s for the employees benefit. Scroll back five years, and the announcements to go home cited the exact same reason.
