We need to meet again - Why the future of work is not “full remote”.

The past 3 months will remain in history as the moment when work became remote, something most “office workers” could perfectly practice without being with their colleagues in the same building.

And even if this forced way of learning how to work remotely was not necessarily the best, children running in the living room or with your kitchen table as your desk, more and more companies are now announcing they’re not going back to the old normal, some even claiming they will adopt full remote work as something permanent.

This is good news. But this is also a bit naive.

I have personally experienced remote work for a long time. Before Skype opened Voice over IP for all, I remember using Microsoft Netmeeting to do video calls between Mexico and France (that was not great, but you could envision what the future would look like!).

At Malt, the company I co-founded 7 years ago, we have since the beginning been working with an open remote work policy. It was first by necessity, as Hugo, CTO and co-founder moved to live in Lyon right from the beginning, but also because we did not have any money at the beginning to pay for an office. The fact that Malt is a marketplace connecting a community of the best tech freelancers with clients meant that we were used to being in contact with people for whom this way of working is perfectly natural (even though we have always seen that most freelancers either work in their clients’ office during their project, or at least regularly meet with them/their team).

200 employees and 5 locations (Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Munich, Berlin) later, we have kept a very open remote work policy where employees basically say the day before that they will work from home. Some teams, like our developers team, are mostly remote first, spending 3 or 4 days working from home and 1 or 2 in the office. This has always made sense for us: people can work in a more focused way, have more freedom, don’t have to commute every day, can deal with some personal issue like having their new fridge delivered or a dentist appointment without having to ask for a day off… and feel more autonomous, trusted, and happy. 

To make it successful we have always looked at the most relevant tools to make it work.In 2013 we were one of the first 500 customers of Slack, in 2017 we moved from google hangout to Zoom, when it was not yet a tool to organize drinks with friends and when Zoom’s market capitalization was not the same as the top seven airlines in the world!

Still, I don’t believe that full remote work applies to most of us, and after these weeks of forced work-from-home, I am convinced that we now need to go back to the office.

As a company, we have always had one office. Our first, and HQ, was in Paris. I needed it because I personally needed to meet new people to be more creative, build networks, socialize, and get out of my tiny Paris apartment. It was not quite so true for Hugo in Lyon at the beginning, but after he hired one developer, and then another one to work with him, they felt they needed a place to meet once a week. So they went to a coworking space. Then, the team grew further, and they felt they needed an office. So, what started as a remote first team, then had an office they could go to if when they felt like it, not by obligation or necessity but by choice.

I have seen first hand the many advantages of remote work, but I am convinced we also need to meet in person. In the mostly remote teams, everyone was anxiously waiting for our offsite meetings and retreats. When they came to the office, it was primarily to socialize and do some creative thinking, not to do deep work. My experience is that solving problems that require creativity and teamwork is so much easier in person, in a meeting room, or around a beer or two. We are social animals, and although tools are improving and tomorrow maybe VR will work magic, I think millions of years of body language and physical connection can’t be fully replaced.

Now that most of us have experienced remote work for the first time, nobody wants to go back to the old normal of all commuting at the same time in packed metros or motorways, but I also see from what our employees are saying that most will be very happy to go back to the office. I experienced it last week in our Munich office where a few of us met in person. Decisions could suddenly be made very fast. And everyone seemed happy. Indeed work isn’t just about earning a living, it’s about connecting with others and opening up to them.

One by one, the big tech companies of San Francisco and the Valley are also discovering that remote work can be very productive and great for employees. Some are even considering going fully remote like early pioneers such as Automattic (the parent company of Wordpress) or Gitlab. But, if you put aside the PR pitches, you have to be able to read between the lines.

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed on the subject. Everyone then tweeted that “Facebook will go remote”. But what Zuckerberg said is much more nuanced:

• we may have 50% people working remote in 10 years
• those concerned will have enough seniority, per se, and inside the company (harder for interns or junior to be onboarded and coached, mentored fully online)
• those concerned will also be working on tools that facilitate communication and remote work (makes sense!)
• you will “need approval”
• and they don’t know how to solve the “creativity” part of what they call at Google the “casual collisions” or the more famous “watercooler effect”, where colleagues randomly meet and decide to launch a new project that may be the next big thing.

And when asked if he personally will be working more remotely he says he can’t because he has to see people, meet important clients, politicians…The Tech giants are talking about more remote work, but the vast majority or probably none of them will get rid of their office.

Oh, and by the way, where are the headquarters and top managers of Gitlab or Automattic? In San Francisco, of course! Close to their biggest partners, investors, and great talent pools.

We are clearly entering a new phase in the way we work, and this is excellent news. Going back to the old ways would not be good news for employees and for the planet! 

But, we also feel now that we need to go back to the office and meet with our colleagues. We are social animals, we need each other. Colliding with others we become better professionals and better people.

I also believe that now that we are seeing our families and friends again, we need to go back to the office too. Obviously we’ll need to take all necessary precautions. I have for instance abandoned for years now the idea of shaking hands systematically or giving everyone a French “bise” in the morning. With the American-like goodbye “wave”, I have found out I was catching fewer colds (or worse things…) in the winter. So let’s restart our economies wisely, but let's do it!

We don’t have to be to the office all the time, or all at the same time, but by “going” to work we acknowledge that life is back, that our clients and providers are back to work too, and that it’s time to take decisions again, to move on with new projects. It may be just only symbolic for some, but it will be the sign that things are back to normal.

Or better said to this hybrid “new normal”, leveraging the advantages of clever remote work conditions (with the right environment, the right tools, the right trust-based company culture), and offices that will progressively become a place to socialize, to be with others.

And we may start to celebrate soon, like Queen Elizabeth announced in her last speech, citing this famous song from WWII, that we can “meet again”.