Recent articles suggest that companies should utilize change management practices to get employees back to the office. With all due respect, that’s wrong. Not because change management doesn’t work, but because the first step in the process — “creating a compelling case for change” — can’t be done. For many remote jobs, there is no compelling reason for employees to go back to the office.
Think I’m wrong? Let’s do a little thought experiment.
Suppose we lived in an alternate universe where working from home has been the status quo for years, not something caused by a recent dramatic change like a pandemic. In this reality, the rule of thumb is any work that can be performed remotely should be performed remotely.
Now imagine a CEO in that world receiving a phone call with a proposal to create something called “Corporate Offices.” This is what the CEO’s side of the conversation might sound like:
“Hello?
Hey Bob, how you doing?…
Sure! We’re always up for hearing ideas that could give our company an edge. What have you got for us?…
Corporate offices, huh? Okay, explain that to me…
…You’re saying we should build or lease a building with a bunch of offices and meeting rooms, and all our employees come to that building to work five days a week. Okay, and why would we do that?
… Uh huh…Because the employees would be able to interact with each other in person, and it would be easier for them to collaborate?… Okay, what else?
… Instead of reaching out to employees via instant messaging or email, managers could just walk into employees’ offices and ask them questions or give them directions…and employees could listen in on other employees’ conversations, which would help them learn the job and our culture… OK, I guess I could see some value in those things.
Where would this corporate office building be?
… Uh huh … We’d pick a location that most of our employees could drive to in less than an hour… Okay, and what about the employees who are more than an hour away?…
Hmmm… So, your plan is that we’d pay some of them to relocate near the office… or we’d “cut them loose.” … and we’d have to replace those employees who don’t live near the building? …
Uh Bob, in this corporate office model of yours, wouldn’t we lose an hour or two of productivity from each employee while they commute each day?
… Oh, oh — So you’re proposing we don’t pay them for that commuting time, only the time they actually spend at their desks in the building. But, would we reimburse them for mileage and other costs, like we do for business travel?
… No, huh? …And you say according to the IRS, those expenses aren’t tax deductible? Yes, I see how that’s good for the Company, Bob, but isn’t that a bit of a “take away” for employees?
Let me ask you something Bob; What if we get this building, but then grow our workforce? I mean, physical space would become a concern, right?
… Uh huh…. So, we’d lease more space than we need, ….and if we grew too much, we could just move to a new building nearby, or we could pay employees to relocate … again… Huh…
Uh, Bob? If we went forward with your plan for say, 100 corporate employees, what kind of money would the company be shelling out?
… Did you just say a-a couple million a year ?!?… Plus build out costs, office equipment, internet, phone, insurance, cleaning and maintenance?…
— Wow, Bob, uh that’s a lot. What’s the dollar value of the increased employee collaboration and interaction to the Company’s top line? In other words, what’s our return on investment?
… Y-You don’t have a number, but you think it could be “really big”… I see…
Bob, I’m not loving this proposal. It adds millions of dollars of expense to the company’s P&L, adds a bunch of costs to our employees and limits us to hiring only local talent. I mean, more social interactions between employees would be nice and would maybe help with collaboration and innovation, but by your own admission we can’t put a dollar figure on that.
Sorry Bob, but I just don’t see it.
I’m not saying it doesn’t have merits, but you’re asking me to have faith that the daily informal face-to-face interactions and employee eavesdropping will return more in innovation than the millions of dollars in expense to the company, and a big drop in quality of life for our employees? Not to mention all the non-local talent we’ll have to miss out on.
What? … No Bob, I don’t think free coffee for employees will make a big difference.
…Goodbye, Bob. Bob?… Bob? Goodbye.
