This week video conferencing specialists Zoom announced that they expect employees back in the office at least for some of the week. At least if you are working within “commutable distance” of their offices.

It’s not just a Zoom – which strangely was the weapon of choice when we were all sent home for the COVID-19 pandemic – but also the likes of Amazon have decided that they will track and penalise employees working from home too much. And it’s not just them either. Over the past year the likes of BT Group, Apple and Twitter/X have also decided on some form of return to work. 

So what’s the big fuss? 

Work from home was a necessity during the pandemic for obvious reasons but now that’s in some kind of endemic phase it’s not really a barrier to bringing people back to the office any more. Top level management are seemingly intent on using that office space they’ve spent the cash on to reap the benefits of bringing teams back together. Or so the theory goes right?

I read different articles and different studies on the effect from working from home. Some in favour, some against. Personally I think it’s very much down to the individual and their circumstances. I do work from home but I don’t really like doing it as I feel there should be a separation of work and home space but also interacting with people face-to-face is critical important. I do live alone so that’s a big reason for the aforementioned mind

There are MANY different benefits to working from home polices in terms of environmental benefits (less cars on the road and/or stuck on the M62 might be nice for some), parental responsibilities, focus in busy environments (who on earth likes working in open offices?!) and countless others.

Despite the fact I personally wouldn’t work from home if I chose to I would still discourage an employer from withdrawing the facility. Fact is that it’s outdated to think that computerised work can only take place in one location and that location must be the company offices. Not everybody wants to work in an office and be closely supervised on work they can do easily at home. Just why am I working this hard just so that employers can decide working from a beach bar is a bad idea?