A personal story about working from home: A while back, I had been doing a long series of UX projects for a major film studio. Since I was there so much, they assigned me a nondescript cubicle at one of their corporate buildings. I was really excited! Everyone who worked there looked at me like I was crazy! I mean, why would anyone be stoked about a beige box in a human filing cabinet? But I had been working from home for years at that point, and the idea of being in an office again around other people was a much needed change for me.
I see a lot of posts for people saying WFH is the way of the future, or RTO is needed to “get back on track.” I don’t think it’s cut and dried like that for everyone. Seems to me there are costs and benefits to both, and the tipping point is different for each person. I know that tipping point for me even ebbs and flows over time. It’s good for employees to have a say in the matter.
As a business owner, I also see that companies have to plan how much office space is needed. It takes time, effort and money to find and lease the right space for your company, furnish it, turn on utilities, clean it and stock it with dark chocolate (hey, priorities, right?). Right now it feels really hard to nail down what the right amount of space might be. At the moment, our company is 100% remote, and it’s not perfect.
Maybe the answer is for dialogue with your employees first, and then clear guidelines based on that dialogue.
