Why the office is still important for professional communicators

Video calls, fully remote teams and the end of business travel—is this the new standard for the professional business world?

Thanks to advances in technology, companies have been able to withstand many of the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic by pivoting to short-term mitigation strategies, such as full-time remote work. It’s been going so well, in fact, the campaign against the physical office is in full swing. Once the pandemic subsides, is it worth it to go back to the office?

While not a repudiation of remote work, here are three reasons to build a case on the importance of the office for communicators:

1. Communication is easier in person.

“You’re on mute” was probably the most used phrase of 2020, and it’d be near the top for 2021, too.

Let’s face it: Humans are uniquely designed to communicate with other humans. In fact, a HBR study found that “face-to-face requests were 34 times more effective at getting completed than emailed ones.”