Office Mandates. Pickleball. Beer. What Will Make Hybrid Work Stick?
A study in Nature last year found that communicating virtually can inhibit creativity. Another study from researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that with the onset of remote work, the formation of what sociologists call “weak ties” — measured in terms of emails between people with mutual contacts — declined 38 percent. But then there’s the immense stress relief that some workers have experienced with remote work. Parents have found that it enables them to better balance professional duties with child care. Employees of color say it reduces microaggressions and cliques.
The best hybrid arrangements promise to combine the values that all sides want: the creativity of in-person collaboration, the ease and fluidity of working from home. Some executives remain hopeful they can strike that balance.
Mr. Cunningham recalled the early years of his career, when his teammates at an investment bank were expected to be in the office until late at night. He recalled one colleague carrying in a cardboard box, telling the team he had to mail something, then using the box to sneak out his jacket so he could finally go home. Those expectations of needless face time have now largely dissipated. (Maybe now that box could be used to sneak home extra beers.)
Back at Conductor, Mr. Besmertnik watched his office start to buzz as the head of internal communications, Dani Weiss, blasted music, grabbed a microphone and called everyone together for an all-staff meeting. Employees in New York, scattered around the open office, swiveled their chairs to face her, while screens beamed in the faces of workers in San Francisco, Berlin and Kyiv, Ukraine.
“When you’re joining an all company meeting on Zoom, from home, it doesn’t feel like this,” Mr. Besmertnik said. “Right?”
“Come on everybody!” Ms. Weiss shouted. “I don’t see butts in those chairs.”
Moments later, there they were.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/business/hybrid-work-from-home-office.html