The work of a leader is to make bold decisions, even when they are unpopular. That is what happened two years ago when I announced that Capitolis personnel would return to work full time in our New York and London offices.
Technology and financial companies have led the position of return to the office, from Goldman Sachs to more recent campaigns ofAmazon Andy Jassyand JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon. I guess many will I do not agree with my decisionsome passionately like that. Alright. I do not intend to have found the formula for all companies. But almost two years later, this is clear to me: we are simply better when we are together.
In office it is not for everyone (and it’s fine)
We lose many candidates due to our policy, and we agree with that, he says so much in Values of our company Declaration that we are not for everyone. Capitolis is a company of more than 150 people and continues to grow. Of the more than 10 million people living in the New York City area, we are looking for those who value and look for a full -time and face to face, and we are excessively signed for each open paper we seek to fill. For those who do not buy in office work, this is not the right place. However, our commercial growth, productivity and 2% of unwanted billing last year tell me that this is working.
However, for all our successes, returning to the office full time was not exempt from friction. They asked me: “Don’t you trust? We work hard during the pandemic, and it worked.” They warned me that they would not attract itMillennial or gene z who value the balance between work and lifeand that we would have difficulty competing with companies that offer flexible work policies. I understand the desire to avoid traveling, or even put pants, and I understand that many people can work efficiently from home. I carefully considered these arguments. I had the opportunity to try the magical work pill from home, and I am not buying.
Learning occurs through osmosis
In my decades working in the office, I have seen the value of human interaction to get the best of all. Every day, there are innumerable meetings with other people in the company, with clients, meetings and improvised conversations, spontaneous ideas that arise. There is a buzz, an energy, which cannot be felt in zoom; It is a good backup, but virtual meetings are linear, timed, restrictive and non -organic.
Face to face meetings lead to conversations, which lead to relationships, and that build powerful teams. The newest and junior employees lose the learning opportunities of the most experienced team members when they are not physically present at meetings, they listen to conversations, observe how more experienced players do what they do. The tutorials are formed organically when people connect. In person.
We are simply better when we are together
When Covid-19 pushed the remote work on us, we managed to do it very well, many companies did. But we are not in a pandemic. And the evidence suggests during that work period from home,The hours worked increased while production and productivity decreasedand the employees connected in a network with fewer people and equipment.
You can do many jobs from the table in your kitchen. But for me, the cost of not being in the same physical space is too high. You can do it well. You can even do it very well. But it will never maximize its potential to be the best possible. For that I try, along with my colleagues and partners in Capitolis. I am not talking about individual efficiency, but to point to greatness as a team.
In our stage of hyper-rare and rapid development of products, we must be to the maximum. When you are at home, your colleagues are not as good as they could. I know I’m not so good. The most intelligent superstar in the world who works in the world is less valuable to me than someone with whom I can talk to my way to the office cuisine.
We support parents to take their children to the doctor, take off or work from home to attend lectures of parents and teachers, or the sporting events of their children and other celebrations. That has been politics in all my companies during the last 25 years, much earlier Hybrid work entered the Zeitgeist. But most of the days, I need people to be in the office: collaborate, build teams, hold each other and push us to be better.
Yes, like me (and like so many business leaders with whom I speak), you want your teams in the office, I suggest you pursue him. Don’t be afraid: make the difficult decision. Can lose some peopleBut you will find others, and they will be the right ones. And most likely you are a lot, much better work together. I know we are in Capitolis.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com Fortune.
Read more:
- I am CEO and former Google executive who spent decades in the office. Here’s why I am in conflict about the return to the office against remote first
- RTO mandates are not for everyone. This is what we did instead, and it is working: CEO of Synchrony
- Stop romantizing the talk in the water occupant in the office. As a totally distributed company of 12,000 people,This is what really works
This story was originally presented in Fortune.com
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