Having not worked in an office for two decades and more, a visit to one, for me, used to be like a visit to Disneyland. I’d gape and gawk at the cool spaces, quirky pods and booths for meetings and calls, even snooze corners and always, always, the pantry which by 2019 had blossomed into full-blown restaurant-like proportions with delectable portions of anything you may desire.
I remember visits to Tripadvisor, Booking, Airbnb, Expedia, Google and Facebook which made me wonder whether I’d taken a wrong turn in my career, working from a tiny cubicle at home when I could be working in places that make me feel like I never want to go home.
I felt envious of the “office team” spirit – everyone working away, gathering, smiling, exchanging gossip, talking about the bosses behind their backs or groups in meeting rooms, brainstorming for the next big idea that will change the world. It felt full of camaraderie.
And why, there were evening drinks, pool tables (not my thing but still cool to have), interesting events where I could gather with like-minded folks – I could have an entire social life wrapped around my work.
Well, I can tell you, things have changed.
Lately, I’ve been visiting a lot of offices to have meetings, which is rather novel after the past two years when we got used to meeting in cafes, beach clubs, parks, wherever took our fancy. Well, it’s back to offices for meetings – they have now fully opened in Singapore and with the last of the masking restrictions removed, life is pretty much back to normal – but these places of work no longer look or feel the same.
The spaces are still cool, still there but the humans have not returned in force. Every CEO I speak to tells me of the challenges they have getting people to return five days a week. Most are on hybrid – three days in office, two days at home (something like that) – and teams are required to be in the office at least the same one day a week.
“But when some return, they see an empty office and they ask, why am I here,” said one CEO. “I could so easily work from home and be as productive.”
And so there’s that vicious cycle – I go in, it’s so boring, I don’t want to go back. And so no one wants to return, unless it’s mandatory.
But work isn’t just about productivity, is it? It is also about creativity, community and communication, among other things.
Every office I visited these past two weeks looked forlorn and empty, and felt sad. Like ghost towns where residents have upped and left, leaving their belongings behind. I see sweaters on the back of chairs, family photographs in cubicles, packs of chips and biscuits. The pantry is largely deserted – the coffee lady is back at work, cleaning up, but there’s not much to do these days. Expensive furniture, bean bags which look more comfortable than they really are, potted plants, paintings on the wall – they all look unused and unloved.
There are pockets of people huddled in meetings, but they all speak in hushed tones, somehow afraid to break the new silence of the office. There isn’t the usual buzz and cacophony of noise when humans gather in a common place to pursue a common purpose. I wonder if we will ever get back to that again …
There are some people who can work in isolation but mostly, we are built to work in teams and we need to see each other frequently to connect on a human level.
With so much going on in the world, it’s easy to forget those you do not see frequently except on conference calls and over time, that human connection, that makes you want to go to battle with your comrades, is lost.
Remote work too has its challenges – when you are not in the same place for months on end, no amount of conference calls can ever make up for what you lose in human contact. We all learnt that lesson the past two years.
Curious, I asked my niece, a millennial, for her opinion on whether she would resign if she were told to return to the office five days a week. Currently, she works three days from home and two days from the office. Most of the time at home, she’s on Zoom calls, and they seem to go on endlessly.
“I suppose if I have to, I would but those who may already be unhappy will use it as the reason to quit,” she said.
Imagine, quitting because you have to go to the office. I suppose I would too, come to think of it.
