The Virtues of Physical Office Spaces Shouldn’t Be Overlooked

As the COVID-19 pandemic is finally subsiding, many business leaders and employees are asking the same questions: Now what? Will we continue to work remotely? Will we be returning to the office? What about a hybrid work arrangement? What will all this look like? We know the merits of remote work, and many employees have said they would rather resign than return to the office full time, but there are some unsung benefits of traditional work that should be considered. For one, a cohesive culture is a lot easier to build in person. Spending time with your colleagues helps you better understand how to get things done, and the overall mission can be a lot clearer. Collaboration is also a lot easier to accomplish in physical workspaces—be that formal or informal. The “conversation at the water cooler” where a co-worker helps you solve a problem you’re working on is hard to replicate in a digital space. Finally, spending time with colleagues helps reinforce a common mission. When you observe the actions of people around you, you often adopt the same purpose in a phenomenon called “goal cognition.” A lack of common purpose has many remote workers feeling unmoored, and physical space can bring them back to port.