Bringing everyone back to the workplace does little for company culture

25 September 2024

Amazon, the online retailer and tech company, has directed all employees to return to the office by early January 2025. Presently workers are required to be in the workplace at least three days a week. In a recent companywide announcement, CEO Andy Jassy says he wants to do away with the current hybrid working arrangement (being a few days at home, a few days onsite), in favour of having everyone back in the office.

Although Jassy outlined numerous reasons for the change in policy, he believes the move will strengthen the company’s culture. Company culture is a term that’s been bandied about — for what? — at least two decades now. It’s up there with other pitiful instances of corporate speak, including values migration and paradigm shift, but what does it even mean?

American writer and entrepreneur Laurie Ruettimann, probably summed it up best in November 2014, when she wrote:

I’ve been saying that your company doesn’t have a culture for years. You incorrectly apply the word “culture” to a group of people who behave a certain way because their lives are dominated by a few powerful figures in your office.

Isn’t it incredible, that ten years later, people still hold steadfast to the notion of company culture. The emperor’s new clothes, anyone? But a substantial body of research, conducted by PwC has concluded being present in the workplace does little for this so-called culture anyway:

The Big Four accounting firm conducted 13 months of research and surveyed over 20,000 business leaders, chief human resources officers and workers for its new Workforce Radar Report — and it found that hybrid workers feel more included and productive than those who sit at their company’s desk five days a week. “While many companies are pushing for return to office, it turns out that hybrid workers demonstrate the highest levels of satisfaction,” the report highlights.

It would be reasonable to think any findings made by an organisation such as PwC, particularly as a big four accounting entity, would be deemed noteworthy, but somehow I doubt that will be the case.

And for a definitely contrarian perspective on the subject of returning everyone to the workplace, read this Sentinel-Intelligence article.