This is a hot topic across business right now. Individuals are weighing in with their thoughts, media is spinning up stories, and businesses are giving more concrete timelines.
My employer is targeting 8/1 and recently requested we schedule time to come back and pick up belongings to organize the return.
I’m gonna weigh in on my thoughts around return to work.
I support a hybrid work model. That is something like work from home two days a week (say Monday or Friday) and be in office the others or vice versa.
After 15 or so months of working from home, I am stoked to get back to the office. Each September as a student growing up, I was always excited for school to start. My grandmother would buy my sister and I one back to school outfit which I was excited to wear. I was also excited to see my friends more often and meet my teacher (s). Return to office brings back these back to school feelings.
More specially I am excited about in person meetings and in person serendipitous brainstorm sessions that ensue. Tons of high impact projects I have been a part of are born from free form thinking when teams are in the right headspace.
Also commuting some days will give me much needed time to myself as a new dad.
While I am excited for return to work, I also feel strongly about not going back to the pre-covid 5 days a week in office expectation.
I support deep work and thinking for everyone no matter the level you are at in an organization. I don’t believe open floor plans and five days in office support deep thinking enough. Calendar blocks alone don’t solve this in my opinion either.
The funny piece about WFH that I struggled with pre-covid was FOMO. I didn’t want to miss anything if I was at home and co-workers were in the office. I hope I can let these feelings go when working in hybrid work models.
The second piece I like about remote is of course no commute. My commute is ~45 minutes one way so eliminating it a few days a week is huge.
What are you hoping will be working norms as restrictions loosen?