Why You Should Go Back to the Office

Let’s be honest. Going back to work in an office is now officially a real thing. And, yes, it’s time that you consider that it may be better for you than working fully remotely.

Your company may be mandating a return-to-office for a certain number of days per week, and even tying that in-person presence to salary or bonuses. But if you’ve become accustomed to your work-from-home or hybrid or flex work schedule since mid-2020, or you’re starting your professional life post-COVID, you’re probably also questioning why you really need to be in the office on a regular basis. And you’re not alone. A Wall Street Journal article recently examined the primary reasons that employees want to continue working away from the office. They included the cost and time of commuting, difficult office environments, caregiving demands, and the desire for more work-life balance.

Those are valid and important reasons to ask for more flexibility - but in most instances not to avoid coming back to the office entirely. And most U.S. companies are not asking for their employees to return to working in the office for five days every week.  A number of big law firms have announced that employees should be in their offices three or four days weekly -- with Friday usually being a work-from home day. And Google and Meta have asked their employees to be in the office, but only three days per week.

So why should you go back to the office - at least for some of the time? A few reasons:

Office conversations can contribute to greater job satisfaction

In-person interactions give you the opportunity to learn about company culture and ways of working. Research published in 2021 in the Academy of Management Journal found that even small talk in the office has a powerful impact on employees’ experiences in the workplace. The researchers concluded that “small talk enhanced employees’ daily positive social emotions at work” and contributed to “enhanced well-being at the end of the workday.” The conversations did not have to be long, or complex, to be beneficial. But the need for human, face-to-face communication is powerful and can be vital in a world where technology can feel more remote and less personal.

In-person communications can be more effective in helping you achieve your goals

Electronic communications, such as email and messaging, may be a faster way to contact more people, but they aren’t necessarily as effective as in-person communication. A 2017 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and noted in the Harvard Business Review, found that “people tend to overestimate the power of their persuasiveness via text-based communication, and underestimate the power of their persuasiveness via face-to-face communication.” Further, while “participants who made requests over email felt essentially just as confident about the effectiveness of their requests as those who made their requests face-to-face” the study concluded that “face-to-face requests were 34 times more effective than emailed ones.”

In-office time can make you more visible and give you more opportunities

More face time in the office, particularly earlier in your career when you are establishing your brand and reputation, can lead to being included on key projects, receiving better assignments and achieving earlier promotion. If you’re trying to present yourself in the best possible light within your organization, you want to be recognized and acknowledged for your work. That may mean working to meet managers, and doing so in-person when they are available in the office, so that they can see you and evaluate how you communicate and interact in person.

Proximity bias - the tendency to favor people working in close physical proximity - is a reality in many professional environments. Whether fair or not, according to a 2022 BBC news report, “managers are more likely to know workers they spend more time with better, give them key assignments and, as a result, develop their careers.”

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You may not need to be in the office every day. And there may be reasons to avoid the office on some days. But you should consider being there when you can meet and work together with the people that can help you and the people you can help. Zoom only goes so far in connecting us in a meaningful way. Talking to someone while you grab coffee, saying hello in-person rather than IM’ing, and collaborating face-to-face can be worth the commute and the time. It also reduces the distance we can feel when we are working remote and do see someone only through videoconference. And in a world where technology should assist us, not replace our ability to connect meaningfully with others, that can make a positive difference in our working lives.