Effective January 2025, Amazon is going to resume work 5 days a week, at the office. While ‘return to the office’ has been a hot & highly debated item for a few years post-Covid, I personally commend @Amazon and the CEO, for taking this bold move.

I work with tech teams across large enterprises around the world in building future products and innovation. While we have all mastered the art of ‘remote’ working and mindset by now, with respect to vibrant teamwork and innovation, I am seeing slow-downs, a lack of meaningful participation, and degradation of progress. Yes, we can all be on a Zoom session together, in tiny windows, but are we as connected as we would be if we were all together, brainstorming in a room and sharing ideas and life stories? Learning from one another? Constructively challenging one another?

There is also a human cost involved in extended hyper-remote work environments. We, HUMANS, are meant to be together and socialize. We know that long-term isolation is not normal and has unpleasant consequences, battled by many companies having virtual therapists to solve the ‘virtual’ workforce situation. Being around other humans and colleagues is critical and vital to our social adaptation and happiness.

With the extremely rapid pace of change in the tech and innovation landscape, I am finding the ‘remote/virtual’ element as a key impediment in slowing down progress and team building. We need to rebuild our ‘work culture’ and think together to design the greatest products of the future. When collaborating with teams onsite, the level of cohesion and progress is sky-high!

While at times remote is necessary (i.e. geo distribution), being in the office and a building together is critical for human communication. It is extremely difficult to imagine, disrupt and innovate with individuals in isolation, connected via a small, tiny window on a screen, in 30 minutes increments, distracted by many other things, especially when people are off-camera and muted mics. Is anyone there!

When collaborating with teams (of any level) in person, we achieve much higher and more significant results, than we ever do in repetitive virtual sessions. As humans, we are meant to have ‘lunch’ with colleagues or a ‘drink’ after work, allowing us to bond, find mentors, learn, and excel. Virtual environments at times diminish the opportunity for meaningful-learning and growth.

So, let’s get back to being our best-human-ever and work together as humans and not images on the screen! I hope more companies will follow @Amazon’s lead!

Imagine | Disrupt | Innovate | Lead