Back to the office: ‘In one day I had to meet for three hours with real people in one room’

Suddenly you have to chat again by the coffee machine, leave home on time because of traffic and face-to-face meetings. After that first day at the office, everyone was completely exhausted on the couch in the evening. How did we do this before, for goodness’ sake? I remember a time when I even went out to dinner afterwards, just the thought of it.

In one day, I had to meet for three hours with real, breathing people in a room. They even saw the bottom of my outfit. No sound to turn off, no screen that could go black for a moment, not even a bad connection to fake. Everything penetrated so deeply into my dull brain. I thanked the Zoom gods on my bare knees when my next appointment suddenly switched from face-to-face to digital. I couldn't handle seeing and talking to another real person anymore.

In the liberating press conference, Kuipers canceled the mandatory working from home. A recommendation to do a bit of both remained. Every office-working Dutch person then panicked. Because how do you work in an office again? Going out the door, sitting in traffic, showing a bit of socially desirable behavior, having appointments with moving people in 3D? All incredibly exhausting.

Research shows that only 3 percent of the world's population with an office job wants to go back to the office completely. All organizational psychologists, company doctors, and professors are increasingly worried because they see it going terribly wrong. What is happening? A good conversation between employer and employee often does not happen, and apparently, we do not make appointments. While it is precisely these appointments that help us make this whole hybrid work manageable.

What to do? Talk. Put that wish list on the table, say the experts. Keeping it vague won't bring anyone anything. If you, for example, stay home and your colleague visibly sits in the office, you might miss that promotion. By the way, you can also take a look at the giants; most companies go for two days in the office and three days at home. A good balance to recover from all that chatter in the office garden, but definitely time to catch that Friday afternoon drink.