Transitioning Back To The Office Has Been Messy

Although some employees are coming back into the office, many are still hopping on Zoom for their meetings throughout the day.

Because offices are still instituting pandemic-era restrictions, employees have said they are still operating the way they were when working from home. Now, workers are asking, what’s the point?

Zoom has noted continued demand for its services despite office reopenings, while Google’s parent company Alphabet said that Google Workspace is also seeing “strong growth.”

Nick Kneer, a communications coordinator at an Ohio-based university library system, expressed his excitement of returning to work so he could connect and socialize with coworkers and students. 

However, upon returning to the workplace, he found his temporary office was a “windowless, cinder block room” where he’d be attending most of his meetings through Zoom.

This is just a glimpse of the new office environment, which derives from leaders’ desires to have their workers in the office, while requiring them to be working virtually.

In short, it’s clear that the attempt to combine the perks of remote and in-person working has been chaotic.

“It feels more like going to Starbucks and working there,” said Harlan Crystal, chief technology officer at mobile gaming company Pocket Gems. “You’re going to a shared place, but most of the people you’re working directly with aren’t there with you.”