Return to office

I changed my mind about returning to the office…

First I was in favor or full remote work simply because

👉 it was way more productive

👉 I felt in control of my calendar, aligning it to my priorities

👉 Stress associated to commute / dropping kids to school disappeared

👉 I had more time for me and my family. 

But experimenting going back to the office, I realized that, as a manager, I was able to get conversations that simply will not happen on Zoom in a 30-min format.

And those are often the most important one.

It could be due to 2 organizational behaviors, scientifically documented. 

✅ First, in the 70s, MIT Professor Thomas J. Allen discovered that office communication increased exponentially the closer desks were. In my case, it means that having more opportunity to discuss allows me to not only cover the day-to-day work but also more complex topics.  

✅ Second, Face to face communications are more effective when it comes to complex tasks (Stryker & Santoro, 2012). I would say it is also true when it comes to emotional cues. Being face to face, I was able to read when a topic needed a deeper level of discussion.

I am therefore looking forward to experimenting a mix of 3 days at work, 2 days remote (being grateful to have this choice at Meta).

A kind of the "best of both worlds". 

Last, this is only my point of view.  And the first survey seems to be showing that, in general, return-to-office policies are negatively impacting employee experience scores and rigid policies are likely to drive attrition, particularly among underrepresented groups. 

https://futureforum.com/pulse-survey/