Whats the point of the office again?
Boston  Over the past few weeks, Ive spoken with managers and employees about returning to the workplace. Thats the right question, says Alexandra Samuel, co-author of Remote, Inc. And any organisation that isnt asking that question is going to run into trouble because every employees thinking it.  Its understandable. People worked from home  once derided as shirking from home  for a year, and the sky didnt fall. In fact, people worked harder and became more efficient. Time once wasted on commuting was reallocated, and flexibility made it easier to pivot between work and life. Less time went to politicking and gossiping, and more time went to important work. The office is primarily a social space, not a productive one. Most humans arent solitary, like snow leopards, but more like birds. The office provides a place to ruffle plumage and establish a pecking order. Consider the experience of Consultant Connect, an Oxford, UK-based tele-health company. In the early days of the pandemic, despite CEO Jonathan Patricks qualms about remote work, productivity soared, and reports from workers were universally positive. As time went on, however, people started to miss socialising. So you find yourself in this slightly odd situation, which is youre running a company that is more productive when people work from home, but youre missing out on a lot of the team-building stuff, he said. They tried hosting Zoom socials, but found them a bit hit and miss.