Office Drama 2.0: The Great Return to Cubicle

In March 2020 – much of the workforce was sent home to work via government-mandated work-from-home orders. Companies scrambled to move employees out of offices and into their homes. Many employees did not have the capability to work from home. They did not have dedicated office space, internet or robust enough internet, a computer, or other required equipment. Previously, many people required to now work from home only used or had access to a company computer at the office site and a personal cell phone. Many did not have printers or large/external computer screens. Even if the company provided a laptop for the employee to use at home, the company often did not provide internet or cellular access. The employees absorbed these expenses. Laptops and computer equipment became scarce in retail stores and at Amazon. 

Many of my clients began working from their kitchen tables, bedrooms, and basements. 

Many employees lost their jobs – either temporarily or long-term. They feared losing their paycheck and medical insurance benefits. 

Children were sent home from school to begin education from home via laptops – which meant, in many cases, parents had to remain home to be with their children and manage their education. Many parents of younger children were forced to work around the children’s schedules, waking early to work for hours before their children attended online classes, and they again worked later in the evening. 

Many elementary-aged children experienced a lack of socialization. 

Many youths experienced canceled graduations, proms, and other educational and life milestone events. These same youths experienced loneliness, frustration, and heartache. 

Some workers never worked from home – those in emergency medicine, grocery retail, and other critical/essential sectors. Many of these workers became burned out and left their professions. I have spoken with many nurses who quit nursing after a year of working through the COVID-19 time.   

These events describe Diane’s Whole-Person Theory to a T. Grief permeated the experience, which lasted two or more years.

As a career coach, I worked with my clients to embrace working from home and finding workarounds to the disruption of working from home. Parents unaccustomed to working from home experienced upheaval in many cases, for example, trying to work from home with a new infant or holding office Teams or Zoom meetings in the kitchen with the TV blaring in the background. I heard many of my clients shouting at their spouses: “Be quiet. I need an hour for this meeting. I will help you when I am done.”

I coached these clients to create systems for working from home by requesting equipment from their employers, creatively finding space in their homes to work quietly (one client set up an office in a large closet), and sharing responsibilities with a spouse who worked and cared for children attending school at home.

I also coached managers and supervisors of personnel who became frustrated with their employees who they believed were underperforming. I asked questions like, “How did John perform before he was sent home to work?” If the answer was very good, one of the highest performers. I then coached the manager to adjust to the work-from-order mandate and learn to coach his employee to make his performance just as successful from home. The manager had to change his mind set and accommodate the employees.

Some companies and government agencies did not renew leases to save money and shrink their footprint. Some employees moved away from the office they once worked in.  

Everyone was “retrained” in their thinking of productivity and work-from-home styles, schedules, and accommodations. Many people learned to work effectively from home or remotely. Even basic medicine, e.g., doctors treated medical conditions via Telehealth platforms (my doctor asked me if I had a thermometer and blood pressure machine at my house for one telehealth appointment I experienced). 

In a flip-the-switch, many companies have mandated that employees return to the office in the last two years. According to a ResumeBuilder article from 2023, 90% of employers planned to return to the office during 2024, and 28% of those companies said they would fire employees who do not return. 

Companies requiring employees to return to the office include JP Morgan Chase, Google, Apple, law firms, Tesla, SpaceX, Citigroup, AMX, and many government agencies. 

Employers have stated that collaboration, employee engagement, knowledge sharing, and mentorship suffer when employees work from home. Ideas are shared easily in an office/team environment. Those working from home state they are just as productive and create as many new ideas as possible in virtual meetings. 

Some companies have required employees to return to the office one or more days a week, up to five days a week. Interestingly, I have coached some companies that brought employees back to the office one day a week as a show of support to the rest of the team, who are required to work five days a week; the managers want camaraderie and knowledge sharing. Yet, the one-day-a-week-in-the-office employees do not have a designated office space/cubicle and are, in fact, working isolated in a conference room. It begs the question, is that motivational to any of the staff?

I work with some clients who have to register in advance to secure a cubicle to work in the office, and some days the cubicles are unavailable. Some employees try to book cubicles as many days in a row in advance as possible. This also means that the same team members are not always in the office for collaboration and knowledge sharing. 

Some employers that employ remote workers also ask employees to sign waivers indicating why they work remotely, how many remote days a week, and the number of remote hours. These waivers include statements like: “The company is not liable or responsible for providing internet or a cell phone; the company is not liable in the case of an accident at the employee’s worksite (home), and the company expects any equipment provided to the employee to be returned immediately upon employment termination for any reason, or the employee can expect a fine or lawsuit.” 

I always say that if such a statement is required to be sent to employees and signed, something evidently happened that made the company liable for something that happened at an employee’s home—the employee’s place of work.

When I coach an employee who is upset about having to return to work, I ask them to prioritize the pros and cons of working at home over working in the office. They must decide what is most important: working from home or having no job and finding new employment. 

For those who are insistent about working remotely, and if they know of some personnel in their company who are allowed to work from home, I coach them to prepare an accomplishment résumé to justify their work-from-home productivity to present to their company’s management. Sometimes, managers can request notable exceptions for exceptional personnel to allow them to work remotely. 

The past few years have been a time of considerable and complex career transition for many in the workforce. Changes are continuing to permeate the workplace. How we respond, adapt, and move forward is vital for ourselves, our families, and our clients.