The human cost of return to office mandates
Have you been reading about Amazon’s highly publicized return to office mandate? At Fun Work, we wanted to share some of our concerns with forced returns to the office. These initiatives are typically presented as a way to increase revenue and efficiency. Often, CEO’s cite the benefits of in-person collaboration: “‘Things just move faster when you’re face to face,’ Mr. Risher said in an interview.” (source)
But is it true that teams are more effective in person? And what’s actually best for workplaces - for the individuals and the teams that make up the organization?
Research has shown there are benefits with in-person work (source). But, contradicting research has found that, “teams that collaborate remotely have been more successful at producing what the researchers refer to as breakthrough discoveries.” (source)
There is still a lot to research about the tradeoffs between remote and in-person work. In the meantime, the human cost of mandated return to work is all too clear.
What do we lose when we mandate folks return to the office? We lose a lot of qualified workers.
These are the folks we will see less of, at companies that mandate in-person work:
Parents who need the flexibility that came with remote work (to pick up kids from school, adjust to daycare issues, etc.)
People with disabilities for whom a daily commute is a significant barrier to employment
People of color, trans folks, and others who are more likely to experience microaggressions in the office
Introverts for whom in-person days represent long periods of distraction and exhaustion
For the folks who do choose to stay at places like Amazon, here’s what they will have less of during their on-site days:
Quiet environment conducive for deep and creative work that requires focus
Cheap/healthy lunches from their own refrigerator
Access to pets and family members who may help with reducing stress during the workday
Access to windows/natural light (a rarity in corporate offices)
This isn’t even getting into the environmental costs of having more commuters on the roads! 🚦
We understand the hunger for in-person time (we are a mixed extrovert/introvert company!) but we know that individuals and teams do best when they get to choose how they work. Let those who thrive in corporate offices return, and let those who thrive in home offices stay home.
Image of a dog sitting next to an open laptop
If your organization is struggling with hybrid work or if you’d like to level up your remote work life, reach out to us! We’d love to help you skill up with remote work.