We've Confused Flexibility With Convenience
I'm arguing against the idea that convenience should be the default measure of whether something is worthwhile.
Working Across the Organisation · Alignment · Influence
Hot take: more of us should go back to the office
YouTubeThis article is inspired by real workplace and leadership experiences. I do not use real names, company names or identifying details. Roles, teams, organisational structures, projects and business context may be removed, generalised or combined to protect the people and organisations involved while preserving the underlying leadership reflection. Where conversations are referenced, wording may be edited for clarity and anonymity.
I'm going to say something that probably won't make me particularly popular.
I think more people should go back to the office.
Not necessarily five days a week. Not because I think managers need to watch people work. And certainly not because I believe sitting at a desk in an expensive building automatically makes someone productive.
I think people should go back because we've become a little too comfortable with staying home.
And somewhere along the way, I think we've confused flexibility with convenience.
Let me explain.
I'm a supporter of flexible working. I understand why people value it. You can spend more time with your family, avoid unnecessary commuting and structure your day around the work you actually need to do.
Those are genuine benefits. I'm not interested in pretending otherwise.
But I also think we've started treating the ability to work from home as though it automatically means working from home is the best decision.
And I don't believe that's always true.
We've become incredibly good at joining meetings.
You log into a thirty-minute call. Someone shares an idea. Everyone gets excited. There are a few enthusiastic comments, perhaps even a commitment to do something differently.
Then the meeting ends.
Everyone closes their laptops, returns to their own priorities and carries on.
Two weeks later, you realise absolutely nothing happened.
Now, that can happen in an office too. I've attended enough pointless in-person meetings to know that physical proximity doesn't magically create accountability.
But I think we underestimate how much of working together happens outside the scheduled conversation.
The discussion that continues after a meeting. The colleague who notices you're struggling and offers to help. The spontaneous conversation where someone challenges your thinking. The opportunity to watch someone more experienced handle a difficult situation without having to schedule thirty minutes in their calendar.
These things matter.
Particularly when you're early in your career, learning a new role or trying to develop relationships beyond your immediate team.
And no, I'm not saying remote employees can't build meaningful relationships. Of course they can.
I'm saying we shouldn't pretend that doing so requires exactly the same effort.
One of the arguments I hear frequently is that people are more productive at home.
Fine. Maybe they are.
But productive at what?
Completing individual tasks? Responding to emails? Getting through a backlog without interruptions?
Those are legitimate measures of productivity, but they're not the whole job.
What about learning from colleagues? Developing professional judgement? Building trust with people outside your immediate circle? Understanding how decisions are made? Becoming visible to people who might challenge you, mentor you or give you an opportunity you didn't know existed?
Some of those things can happen remotely. But they rarely happen accidentally when every interaction needs to be arranged.
And that's what bothers me about how we've started approaching hybrid working.
We talk endlessly about the freedom it provides, but much less about the responsibility that comes with it.
If you want flexibility, brilliant. Use it.
But don't confuse having the freedom to choose with never having to make an inconvenient choice.
Sometimes the better decision for your development, your colleagues or your team might be getting dressed, sitting in traffic or taking the train into the office.
Not because someone demanded it.
Because there's value in being there.
Now, leaders aren't innocent in this either.
If you expect people to commute for an entire day of video calls with colleagues in other countries, you've missed the point completely.
If your office offers nothing beyond a different desk and worse coffee, don't be surprised when people question why they should bother.
The office needs a purpose.
It should be somewhere people collaborate, learn, debate, build relationships and experience things they wouldn't otherwise experience in isolation.
And leaders need to create those opportunities rather than simply counting how many days someone swipes a badge.
But employees have a responsibility too.
You can't simultaneously complain that you don't feel connected to the organisation, that you aren't getting exposure to senior leaders, or that you're struggling to build relationships, while automatically dismissing opportunities to spend time with those people.
Sometimes you have to participate in the environment you want to benefit from.
I also recognise that not everyone has the same circumstances. Disabilities, caring responsibilities, long commutes, the nature of the work and whether colleagues are even based in the same location all change the equation.
I'm not arguing for a universal attendance rule.
I'm arguing against the idea that convenience should be the default measure of whether something is worthwhile.
And perhaps that's my actual frustration.
We've spent years discussing what employers owe employees in a flexible working world. It's a conversation worth having.
But I think we should be equally willing to discuss what we owe our colleagues, our teams and our own professional development.
Because flexibility is valuable. Autonomy is valuable. Working from home can be fantastic.
But so is showing up.
My take today? Hybrid working isn't failing because people have too much freedom. It's struggling in places because we've stopped being deliberate about how we use that freedom.
And until someone convinces me otherwise, I think more of us should make the conscious decision to spend time together.
Even when staying home would be easier.
