Our Post-Pandemic Non-Consensus

We read dueling headlines: “America Needs to Go Back to Work – In Person” vs. “Why the Return to the Office Isn’t Working” 

We see dueling memes:

vs.

We hear dueling opinions from friends and co-workers: “I love not having to come in” vs. “I miss seeing people.” (I occasionally hear both from the same person). 

What We’re Doing

It seems like America’s having almost as tough a time figuring out how the post-pandemic office will work as we did figuring out how to adjust to it in the first place. PACO was fortunate, in a sense – we already had pretty flexible work from home policies, and we’d unwittingly test-driven our fully-remote future during a month-long office move in November of 2019. So when COVID hit, we were able to roll with the logistical punches fairly well. But today we face the same dilemmas as so many other offices. 

RELATED: Agency Update – Office Is Back Open, but Working from Home Is Great (for now)

We’ve discovered there are some things that it’s just better to do face to face. In a creative business there’s no substitute for being able to just turn and bounce ideas off the person next to you…e-mails and text chains don’t cut it. We’re just more productive and more innovative face to face. This goes double for junior employees; it’s tough to get the necessary exposure and opportunity to learn when they’re isolated 1500 miles from the rest of the office. 

On the other hand, there are some serious quality of life and productivity benefits to working from home. Saving an hour or more on the commute, and having more flexibility with how to structure the day, makes it a lot easier to do all the other stuff that needs doing. It means more sleep, more exercise, fewer postponed or cancelled appointments, and happier kids. It’s also nice not to have to take out a second mortgage to pay for gas. 

OK….So What?

As always though, I have to ask: what are the takeaways for marketers? One is to lean into that ambivalence. Acknowledge the good and the bad to both. Have fun with them. And keep the routineless routine of working at home in mind when you make a media plan. 

Another takeaway is that – just like so much of the coverage of post-pandemic life – this post has marginalized the majority of Americans who aren’t moaning about going back to work in person because they never stopped. The folks who work in construction. In health care. In kitchens. In transportation. They don’t get an extra hour of sleep. They don’t take Zoom meetings in bed. If somebody can’t hear them on site, it’s not because they’re on mute. Keep them in mind. Your business will thank you for it.