Working in the office 5 days/week to build company culture is a myth: PwC report

Productivity, “Abuse,” and Management Quality

• Many argue WFH does not create new abuse; people who shirked in-office also shirk remotely.
• Others report clear WFH abuse: padded estimates, multiple jobs, long non-work activities during supposed work hours.
• Several emphasize this is fundamentally a hiring and management problem, not a location problem. Good leaders set expectations, track outcomes, and address underperformance in any mode.
• Some claim their teams became dramatically less productive when remote; others report equal or higher productivity and fewer time-wasting office rituals.

RTO Motives and Hybrid Models

• Strong suspicion that RTO is often about soft layoffs, discrimination against older/parent workers, executive ego, or preserving downtown real estate, not productivity.
• Counterpoint: some believe most companies genuinely seek better collaboration and performance, though they may measure it poorly.
• Hybrid is seen by some as “worst of both worlds” (office costs plus commuting) and by others as a practical balance that still cuts commuting and supports in-person bonding.

Culture, Bonding, and Social Needs

• Deep split:
  • One camp values close in-person relationships, informal hallway/lunch chats, whiteboarding, and believes hybrid/on-site makes onboarding, trust, and collaboration easier.
  • Another camp sees coworkers primarily as transactional, prefers to invest socially outside work, and finds remote perfectly sufficient (or superior) for relationships using chat/video plus occasional meetups.
• Several note that remote vs in-person needs vary by individual, role, company culture, and stage (e.g., early-stage startups vs mature firms).

PwC and Consulting Skepticism

• Many distrust PwC’s research, seeing Big 4 reports as marketing or as tools to justify decisions executives already want (including RTO).
• Others clarify that some such studies are internally funded “eminence” pieces, not client-paid hatchet jobs, but still often lack rigorous methodology.

Health, Commuting, and Externalities

• Some highlight constant illness from hybrid offices and schools, contrasted with fewer infections and vaccines as mitigation.
• Environmental and time costs of commuting and underused office real estate are cited as strong arguments for WFH.

Meta-Consensus

• Thread converges on: there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Effectiveness depends more on management, incentives, and employee preference than on location alone.