In-office work is better for individuals and society

I’m glad to see another company pushing people to come into the office.

From Quartz:

“Google began mandating that workers return to the office in April of last year, although it’s unclear how much the policy was enforced among its rank and file. By cracking down on in-person attendance now, Google joins a slate of major tech companies who have recently taken firm stances on formerly soft hybrid policies—and effectively reversed course on remote work.”

I think returning to more in-person work good for us as individuals, and collectively as a society. It's very easy to justify remote work for its convenience – more family time, reduced commutes, flexibility, etc. – but that doesn't mean it's good for us long-term.

Stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression, are at all-time highs — I mean, the Surgeon General of the US released a health advisory about them! And the consensus from psychologists, philosophers from the beginning of time, and religions from all over the world, is that the antidote is more time with people.

Of course that's nice in theory but many of us have shit commutes, big expenses, hectic schedules, jobs we don't like, or people we don't like working with — real shit. But solving them by working from home is a Band-Aid at best and coping at worst.

I don't begrudge anyone for coping, there are periods where you’re just getting through the days. Life at redline as an adult can be intense. Problems are big, consequential, and numerous. Taking the quickest path to relief is often necessary and noble, especially when responsible for others.

What I'm worried about is mistake a temporary relief for a permanent solution and changing the way we work long-term. We are in a moment of re-adjustment with work; what we decide now will stick for years or decades to come. Big companies have an outsized role in this because smaller companies look to them for air cover. In March 2020 when everyone was waiting anxiously to decide what to do about the pandemic, it was when Google shut its offices that everyone followed. Big companies making this push back to in-person work makes it easier for others to get on board. Personally, I’m self-conscious talking about this because I can't possibly know people's real situations, complexities in life, and the things that keep them up at night. All I know is that things are better with more time spent with people, not less. We don’t want to start believing that time with others is optional.

This brings up other happenings like Apple’s Vision Pro headset and what that encourages. More thoughts on that in a future post.