Does RTO Help You Feel Like You Belong?
In-office work boosts relationships and productivity. What happens if you don't have that option? It might not matter.
The Teardown
Thursday :: January 16th, 2024 :: Approx. 5 min read
👋 Hi, this is Chris with another issue of The Teardown. In every issue, I cover how we interact with technology that powers our day-to-day lives.
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Most of you work. And when you go to work, do you get dressed? Do you put on pants? Shower?
Those of you commuting from home to work likely answer yes to those questions. If not, let’s please communicate in private. I want to know everything about you. You are a gallivanting billionaire in hiding.
But what about when you work not at home? Maybe you’re at the library, or a local coffee shop near your home. And what about at home? The last of these options reduces the number of things you need to do to look presentable in a professional setting.
People joke that they work without pants at home. Some do. People wear hats while they work. Looking at Zooms of coworkers and clients sometimes tells you that you’re working with trustworthy people, or batshit crazy people. To say nothing about productivity, of course.
This sort of work is flexible. No one watches you except when you present on camera. What is a semi-rigid workday when you commute to and from work turns into an amorphous work blob. Maybe you work when you wake up, then break until 10 am, then work again, repeating this unorthodox 2-hour cycle throughout the day. We all know early work risers or late-night work owls.
So, we’re just over the start of a new calendar year in the world of work. It’s the moment to determine who gets promotions and bonuses and who doesn’t. And companies see this moment as another opportunity to reinforce or introduce return-to-office (RTO) mandates.
Many people do not want to work under 5-day RTO mandates. They enjoy flexibility. They produce more and/or higher-quality work when not burdened by commutes and office distractions.
Their employers may or may not agree, but I read and hear one frequent point: in-office work encourages collaboration. It strengthens relationships. These two points, forever intertwined, boost productivity. In theory, anyway.
I’ve not seen data that proves productivity boosts in either direction. But I was struck by something else freelance writer Kaleigh Moore highlighted in her 2024 review post (emphasis mine):
I celebrated my 11th year of full-time self-employment in November, but, as always, it was a year of hills and valleys. I’ve written about how AI is changing the work (both the availability and roles) for freelance writers, and I really felt that shift this year.
I find myself more often in more of an editor role these days, often working with AI-generated drafts or AI-assisted content per clients’ needs. I don’t mind the evolution; the name of the game when it comes to freelancing has always been adaptability.
That said, I am thinking more seriously about taking a full-time role these days. From simplified taxes to stability to wanting a feeling of belonging and connection…a decade-plus of solo work is catching up with me. Maybe it would be nice to be part of a team again? We’ll see.
What seems near impossible to quantify is that sense of belonging. Technology enables fast asynchronous communication augmented by history and search and tracking. But just because you have Slack teams at your fingertips doesn’t mean you feel connected in any way. The potential problem compounds with a distributed team that can’t easily gather in one physical place most days.
Freelance work is different from standard corporate remote work. Freelance work is a subset of the broader professional path: independent work. There are independent workers everywhere. Some work as consultants, some as contractors, some via platforms like UpWork, but they’re all distinct in legal terms from the individuals or companies that pay them.
What term defines independent workers more than anything, at least in simple form? Island. They are one-person bands. They pick and choose work with complete autonomy. And they lack that sense of belonging - at least through the traditional work-for-company lens. They can’t say I love my team or I have the best manager because they have neither.
They are also more reliant than others, in many ways, on technology. On email. On virtual meetings. On asynchronous communication.
So, one point lost in the noise about RTO is this sense of team, of belonging, of connection. My anec-data suggests that folks are trading away those professional components for flexibility. And they’re ok with that trade.
But, not everyone. Kaleigh’s post reminded me of my current trade. I’m consulting. I’m working with people at companies but not as part of their teams. My one-man band performs all day, every day, at home. Maybe I’ll live-stream on YouTube.
Joking aside, I feel that same lack of connection and belonging. What’s not clear is whether I care. I still meet plenty of people. I talk constantly some days and other days feel like I’m working in the quietest library on earth (a nightmare). I am developing relationships but through other lenses (i.e. client, prospect, sub-contractor, etc).
And I think those relationships might be more resilient. Many of my strongest and longest-lasting relationships aren’t from past working teams. They’re folks I met at the periphery of work. They connected to me through other friends and became, for whatever reason, sticky contacts. Four of my wedding groomsmen are former coworkers. We did not - as a foursome - work on the same team.
How many days are you required to commute to an office (if you do)? How do you feel about it? If you’re an independent, do you feel that sense of connection with clients and industry friends?