Friday water cooler: Zooming in the office

The concept of “hybrid work” is being tested in real time, as workers head back to the office to do jobs they may have performed flawlessly from their couches. The remote-work boom meant an influx of video communication tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet became necessary facets of daily office work, connecting employees across borders and time zones.

So why are some workers reporting to physical offices only to stay siloed, calling into meetings as if they were at home? A recent story in Slate, and a variety of other dispatches from the brave new frontier of the hybrid kingdom indicate that some in-office workers are still working just like they did at home: alone.

Some advocates of in-office work see it as the vital grist that feeds the creativity mill. Others say it’s difficult to build and sustain culture in a remote setup. Still others have cautioned that working remotely could harm younger employees who’ve never had the experience of an impromptu watercooler conversation.

There seems to be something of a dividing line between die-hard work-from-homers and in-office enthusiasts: According to Microsoft’s Annual Work Trend Index Report for 2022, which surveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries, 50% of leaders in “information worker roles” said that their “company already requires, or plans to require, full-time in-person work in the year ahead.” Some employees already reporting to the workplace aren’t doing so because they love it, either: A Pew Research Survey in February found that while 61% of workers who can do their jobs remotely report feeling more productive in the workplace than they do at home, 9% said one major reason they’re going into a workplace is due to pressure from a boss or coworker.

In the Slate story, advice columnist Allison Green shared anecdotes that workers sent her about their return to the office. Here’s a taste:

I’m typing this from my office where I’m the only one in my suite and have been all week. More colleagues are physically present across the building, but all my work is done on a computer, and I have no reason to interact with them in person.

Hey you, yes YOU, there in the back. If you’re managing a hybrid workforce, are you finding that your staff is having a similar experience? If hybrid work is supposed to be different from remote, then why is it mirroring the latter arrangement, and what can HR teams do to ensure an office facilitates all the things it’s supposed to?

Join the discussion here on HR Brew’s LinkedIn page, or reply to this email with your thoughts—SB

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @SammBlum on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Sam for his number on Signal.