CJ Chilvers wrote about how various CEOs are making thinly-veiled threats to their staff in relation to remote working — come back to the office or else. It reminded me of my own situation.
Businesses invoke the C word: collaboration as the key driver.
My employer has opted for moving to a 'structured hybrid' model where staff are required to attend an office for two days a week. The structure comes from giving different areas across the organisation set days in the office so that team members can collaborate face-to-face.
I recognise that, compared to many, I'm lucky — especially as I currently only have to go in one day a week due to building work and reduced capacity — but feel the rigidity doesn't work for everyone.
I straddle two very small teams where the bulk of my colleagues are in other cities or even other countries. When I go to the office I am the only one there from either team. Let's just say that opportunities for face-to-face collaboration are effectively zero.
The intention is that you tailor your workload based on whether you are at home or in the office — meetings are best done in person, deep work best done at home, etc. I, however, end up doing exactly the same things no matter where I am and that's not ideal.
I appreciate the value that can be gained from going in to the office but can sometimes commute only to sit on Teams meetings all day — what's the point? Things should be a little more flexible.
