Computer says no: Is the Zoom boom really over?

Occasionally, a news story breaks that requires a double take. One such is Zoom ordering its workers to get back to the office.

Come again? Zoom – the one name synonymous with the pandemic and the way the outbreak seemingly changed lifestyles and work-life balances forever; the brand that made working from home (WFH) possible. That one?

Yes, but hang on, it’s not going the full monty. What the California-based software firm is saying is that employees who live within 50 miles of one of its 14 locations worldwide must go there at least two days a week.

They still get to work remotely the other days. Note, too, the qualification – thanks to the success of Zoom there may well be those among its workforce who have been operating successfully far beyond a 50-mile radius. They could be in some isolated place, armed with a laptop and wifi, and will presumably be unaffected by the new stricture.

Nevertheless, it is a remarkable step. But also, not surprising. What began as a godsend for organisations and households unable to see people in person during the lockdowns has turned into a bete noire, certainly for employers.

The benefit to the individual is a given. Gone is the grind of the daily commute, complete with the stress that entails. There’s less pressure regarding dress. They can be around the home more. Everything points to a happier, healthier, more relaxed employee. And that can only be advantageous to their employer.

Except that in the downtime – the periods when they’re not on Zoom – no one knows what they’re doing. Bosses complain of a drop in productivity and creativity. The chemistry that only comes from human beings physically interacting with each other is lost. So too is the informality and spontaneity.

Zoom “meetings” must be booked. There is no substitute for someone dropping by another’s desk, the chat around the coffee machine, the casual drink after work. With those come ideas and thoughts, the shared flash of inspiration which leads to innovation – and making a difference and adding value, which all businesses crave.

What’s also diminished is the ability to get noticed, for a worker to stand out and make an impression and gain promotion. While the chiefs were WFH this was not an issue, but once they returned to the office, the savvier workers realised they were in danger of missing out and followed suit.

It was not foreseen that Zoom (and with it, Teams) would spark a wholesale, permanent movement. It was a brilliant, easily accessible solution during the Covid crisis when the world stood still, but the notion of it completely altering how we work was not predicted.

That’s the problem – what was regarded as a temporary development became fixed. Employees now take it as read that they will be able to WFH; in rapid fashion Zoom was embedded in the psyche.

The challenge for employers is to row back on something that has acquired the status of a right; it’s not even a privilege but to be expected. And to do so without alienating the staff.

Their answer is the halfway house: two or three days in the office and the remainder at home. This “structured hybrid approach” is what Zoom is following with its new practice. It’s quickly become the standard, replacing the total WFH.

It’s a shift that is reflected in Zoom’s own results. Pre-pandemic, Zoom Video Communications Inc enjoyed revenues of just above $900m (£708m) a year. Then they shot up, doubling to $1.8bn (£1.4bn). Post-Covid, they’ve fallen and with them, bonuses and salaries: CEO Eric Yuan has cut his own pay by 98 per cent, from $1.1m (£866,000) to $22,000 (£17,300). Also falling has been the number of workers: Zoom has laid off 15 per cent, which is approximately 1,300 people.

Even then, hybrid is not entirely satisfactory. Organisations say they don’t know whether they’re coming or going in relation to the size of premises they require and whether they should have designated desks and individual offices that will be empty part of the week or if they should introduce hot-desking.

The part WFH, part office model – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are the usual office days, Monday and Friday are WFH – still elicits complaints of lack of effort and spark. The difficulty here is that many of those in charge rather like it as well, they too would rather be at home on a Monday and a Friday, so to accuse the juniors does not wash.

There is another, forgotten, aspect to this, which is that society was already moving towards WFH – at least where Mondays and Fridays were concerned – well before Covid struck. Friday was a slower day, people would disappear after lunch; Mondays, they were on their way back from somewhere. Indeed, this was always the historic London working week.

Employers are pushing for four days – Disney, Starbucks, Amazon and Twitter are just some to switch to four, rather than three in the office.

For the foreseeable future, for most, this is where it will remain, at three or four days. Zoom has become such a fixture we will not see a return to the whole five, not any time soon, if at all. Hybrid is the new normal, even for Zoom.