In-person work offers spontaneous interactions and personal connections that remote work does not, which can be beneficial to both employers and employees.

University of Minnesota business professors from the Carlson School of Management describe the positive outcomes of in-person interactions in the workplace and the evolution of remote work.

Serendipitous, unplanned interactions are the sole contributor to why companies are pushing so hard for in-person work mandates, Myles Shaver, a professor at Carlson School, said.

“How many times have you gotten to class early and stirred up a conversation with a random classmate?” Shaver asked. “Now, compare that to a Zoom setting, where you enter a waiting room, and are often muted before the class begins.”

In-person work allows for free-flowing conversations, real connections with peers and a place away from conditions that people working remotely are accustomed to, Shaver said.

Companies take into account where they are based, what services they provide, their profile level and local competitors when establishing in-person or remote work policies, Colleen Flaherty Manchester, a Carlson School professor with expertise on workplace benefits, said.

Workers might have more flexibility between remote and in-person work depending on where they live and what company they work for, according to Manchester.

Take Target and Walmart, both stores provide similar services like shopping for groceries, clothes and home-goods at an affordable price in the Twin Cities, Manchester said.

Walmart (headquartered in Arkansas) has a strict return-to-office policy, but Target does not because it is a Minnesota-based company, Manchester added.

High-profile investment banks, like Goldman Sachs and CitiGroup, have in-person work mandates to maintain their high-ranking position and authority, according to Shaver.

If being in-person is not a determining factor in work production, flexible modalities can be beneficial, Professional and Administrative Consultative Committee Chair Whitney Taha Frakes said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.
A flexible modality can look like working a fixed number of days every week, but letting employees choose what days to work in-person fits their schedule, Shaver added.
According to Manchester, people have to consider that the Twin Cities area has among the highest proportion of dual-income families across all large metropolitan areas.

The high proportion of dual-career couples is a reason for companies to keep a flexible work environment and have remote work as an ongoing option, especially for caregivers who work and take care of their families, Flaherty Manchester said.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, only 15-20% of people worked from home, according to Shaver, a number lower than what most people presume.

People tend to think remote work was far more popular during the pandemic, Shaver said. People forget frontline workers, like nurses, retail workers and carpenters, could not make a living and stay at home.

“I think it is crazy that we still hear the notion that ‘people aren’t working’ anymore,” Shaver said. “A lot more things would have fallen apart if this was the case, it was a misguided notion.”