The Incentives of the Office

The traditional concept of the office has undergone a massive transformation in recent years, driven largely by the rise of remote work. As more company’s begrudgingly embrace flexible work arrangements and employees increasingly opt to work remotely, the incentive of the office has changed. The office is no longer just a place to work, we need something more to entice us to return.

Before the pandemic the office was the natural choose. Things were as they always has been, and the office is, well, the office. In this space we found things that we did not have at home, like office desks and high-speed internet, an ample supply of coffee and printers, conference rooms and access to all the software and information that we need to do our work properly.

Then the pandemic struck and the whole world was forced into the remote work model. This model was nothing new, we have had the option for years and years, but as it was not the norm it was largely overlooked and unavailable to the masses.

In a blink of an eye, or maybe coughing fit, the world changed, and everyone was working from home. VPN access was suddenly possible for most, inaccessible systems became accessible, and everyone got office furniture at home or repurposed a breakfast nook as an office or table, countertop or old barndoor as a makeshift table.

Over time we got used to working from home and once the pandemic was over, we had new problem. We found ourselves unwilling to return.

So, what are the incentives? Why should we return and what could we do to make the good old office more appealing, interesting and a place that draws us back.

One of the primary incentives of the office has always been the is the opportunity for social interaction and collaboration. We just did not understand it when we had no other options and only discovered this fact now when we were forced to work away from each other.

On the other hand, remote work offers flexibility and autonomy, that the office so often lacks. This flexibility is now the most important driving factor for continuing the office free narrative and stay at home. This is a privilege that we have been given and not something we are going to give up freely. Even though, this autonomy can also lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from colleagues.

These are the main two forces battling it out for dominance and the thing we need to address when going forward, finding a solution for the next century of work.

Some, if not all, companies have tried different ways to get people to return and some efforts have succeeded while others failed miserably. It depends on a myriad of factors so your milage may wary.

We know that forced return orders have failed in the past and that many skilled workers have come to value the flexibility higher than many other factors like compensation. In this modern day of age anything forced upon us will be met with resistance. There must be something more to it, an alure, to get us to the water to drink.

Others have tried with varying success to lure people back with better amenities and in office perks. Our offices have been given a need makeover for the last three to four years and they are often smaller, more optimized and better than ever before. We have been given new office furniture, lounges that are more akin to hotel lobbies than old school offices and complimentary snacks, coffee bars and recreational facilities have quickly become more of a norm than a startup extravagance.

To my knowledge these are short term incentives. Who does not love a free lunch, a cool new office or the opportunity to play shuffleboard while on coffee break. But are they things that really, long term, makes us to want to return back to the office? I would say no! Free bagels in the breakroom aren’t the solution.

Fast Wi-Fi, great conference rooms and video meeting setups are not what makes most of us willing to return, they are a given for any modern office. And in a world where others, clients and collogues alike, connect to the meeting remotely this incentive is not the incentive it was in yester years. At least not for toughs of us that have access and can afford to have highspeed internet and keep a home office.

So, this is to a large extent a factor of where you are both financially and geographically. The young are forced to work in an empty office while the old, like me, stay at home unwilling to budge. There is a stalemate in-between flexibility, time and money and there is no real way of calculating the Exhange rate between these two currencies.

But what can we do, if not investing in new furniture and free lunches (same logic as above applies here as well), offerings snacks, shuffleboards and boardgames or fun in office events does the trick?

Well, to me the logical thing is to double down of what made the office great in the first place.

The office provides a physical space where employees can come together, to create and coexist, engage in face-to-face interactions, and foster a sense of camaraderie and teamwork. These interpersonal connections are essential to us, not as employees but as humans.

So, by shifting away from the office being a place where work is preformed into a place for building relationships, sharing ideas, and driving innovation we will once again reclaim this territory and all of its benefits for our organizations. I would like to suggest an alternative. Instead of offices in the classical sense we should rebrand them into Social Collaboration Spaces, where work also may be performed.

Another key factor, in both life and at work, is networking and the office should serve as a central hub for professional development and growth opportunities. I believe that one of the main incentives of the office could be access to management level executives. Being able to meet the leadership, from time to time, and be able to network is a highly sought-after commodity that is not easily replicated by remote link.

We still have the factor of flexibility to address. And here I’m certain that the only thing to do is to remove the obstacles that are in the way and make the transition back or rather to the office smooth. By utilizing more micro-offices, coworking spaces and other meeting places we can bring ourselves back from our homes and making the transition of joining the office again so much simpler. Satellite offices and micro commuting is after all the next new normal.

We should also adopt a remote-first mindset, to not penalize the people that are joining us from home but instead embracing that as the new normal and organize our work around it. More on that in another blogpost, coming soon.

Wrapping up, the role of the office has changes, but we have not changed with it. We now need to find a way back to our roots and to build on what was good to begin with and going from there making it even better.