While working from home has both advocates and adversaries, the received wisdom about its benefits and downsides has remained relatively steady: while it allows greater flexibility for workers, a work-life balance, and can be time and cost-saving, it nevertheless isolates workers from their colleagues. This week saw the publication of a major US study in the Harvard Business Review that seems to debunk that final concern, pointing to evidence that WFH can actually strengthen the bonds between colleagues. 

While WFH refusniks are quick to point out how important office hours are for team building, the HBR study upends that theory somewhat. Its key takeaways include: 

• ‘Virtual interactions can make employees see each other as more authentic, human, and trustworthy — all qualities that lead to stronger personal and professional bonds.’
• ‘When employees learned information about the coworker that was more vivid (visual or auditory), perceived as unintentional, and nonwork-related — all ways of learning that are more likely when working from home — they were more likely to invest in their personal (i.e., pursue friendship) and professional (i.e., pursue future work collaborations) relationships with that coworker.’ 
• Working from home helped employees see coworkers ‘as more trustworthy, authentic, and human.’
• ‘Taken together with accounts of employees leaving their companies when being forced to return-to-office, [assuming working from the office is vital] may actually harm your employees’ loyalty to your organization.’

Harvard Business Review’s research combined a qualitative study of employee’s real-life responses to working from home, systematic analysis of online comments across Reddit, Twitter, LinkedIn, and new stories comments (over 70,000 comments analysed), and a series of controlled experiments that measured what people felt they learned from video conferencing with colleagues at home. 

It coincided with the ONS releasing UK data that showed 'those working from home spent more time on 'sleep and rest', and 'exercise, sports and well-being' on average, well-being markers that suggest WFH is better for an employee's health.

Currently, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), more than a quarter of working adults in Great Britain (28%) hybrid-work as of autumn 2024. But increasingly, employers are rolling back the remote work arrangements instituted during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this year’s KPMG 2024 CEO Outlook report, more than four-fifths (83 percent) of UK CEOs expect to see a full return to the office within three years. 

Once again, then, there seems to be a tension between management's desire for an office-based workplace, and employees' desire for the work-life balance that comes with WFH or a hybrid set-up. It's been positioned by UK media as a culture war: broadsheets alternately publish op-eds such as 'Working from home is a conspiracy against the rest of us' (The Telegraph), 'Working from home is the great social experiment of our age – it’s too soon for the state to wade in' (The Guardian). 

However, given the new HBR research, and the ONS survey, it seems that the issue is not so much WFH, but businesses' inability to recognise how to facilitate a hybrid model. 

'I see the actual issue as the lack of investment in modernising working practices to embrace the needs of modern society. Agile working policies that reflect what society needs and wants right now, are ultimately a performance lever for businesses when harnessed appropriately,' explains Lisa-Marie, founder of Soulitude7, a multi-disciplinary consultancy and expert on effective leadership. 

She advocates: 'It’s an investment to upskill the business to work in this way, however, let’s approach it like we would any other business investment – an evaluated business case. [Office mandates] are not working, burnout rates are the highest they’ve ever been, people are struggling to meet their basic needs, and the gig economy offers credible alternatives. The businesses investing in leading distributed will ultimately win.' Her points echo the HBR finding that many employees leave their companies when being forced to return-to-office. 

Nic Neal, People & Culture Consultant, agrees, saying that the key is to ensure that hybrid and WFH policies are backed up with infra-structural growth: 'While organisations are quick to embrace hybrid policies, they're not investing enough in equipping their line managers to lead remote teams effectively. We're seeing a rise in performance issues that often trace back to this gap – managers need new skills to maintain engagement, spot early warning signs, and drive productivity across different working patterns. Building these skills will more than likely win the talent retention battle.'

'The most successful organisations I've worked with are those that make in-person days count, designing them with real purpose: team workshops, creative sessions, and meaningful conversations.' 

Lisa-Marie also advocates creating 'intentional connection points, weekly check-ins, team chats, and include mandatory meetings, and offsites/away days in your annual calendar. The evidence is there that engaged employees create stronger business results. Listen to your workforce and be open to trying new ways of doing things.'

Zoe Tuffs, Founder of Ten Times Coaching, agrees: 'The most forward-thinking companies are asking, "How can we help our employees do their absolute best work, wherever they are?" And if they do ask people to come back to the office, there's a solid, data-backed reason for it, not just a hunch or someone's personal preference.'

Of course, businesses want to see an ROI for their office spaces -there is a big cost to companies for office facilities. And the benefits of face-to-face interactions - especially in a person-based industry - are still apparent.  Kirsty Finding, Head of Talent at TRO, said, 'Virtual connections have their advantages but they cannot fully replicate the benefits of in-person interactions... it becomes more challenging to read the room, pose quick questions, have an informal catch-up and achieve true collaboration.' 

So, four years into the great social experiment of working from home, it continues to be iterative. CEOs who predict a full return to the office in a few years may well be left behind by a talented workforce whose cost of living and desire for work-life balance precludes them from making that commitment.

(Anecdote is not data, of course, but it does seem especially difficult to insist upon office-based work in a country where the transport infrastructure is not fit for purpose: my monthly train pass to London amounts to a quarter of my salary, making my commute an expensive offering to presenteeism). 

Per Emma Castle, co-founder of CastleBell: 'For some, it is the difference between being able to afford to come to work, or not, and so thinking carefully about your strategy in this area, is essential to inclusivity. It is also so much harder for clients with a ‘four or five day in the office’ policy to attract talent, let alone retain it.'

However, there is one clear takeaway from the HBR and ONS surveys: working from home can be hugely beneficial to employees' well-being. If businesses ignore how happy hybrid working and WFH makes most employees when developing their office attendance policies, they're putting themselves in a vulnerable position for talent retention.