I’m Done With the Office — And a Recession Won’t Change That

Stop imprisoning employees at the office, give them the choice of where to work instead so businesses and workers flourish together.

“I can’t believe you’re so stupid…”

One of my bosses muttered this under her breath. I sank into the booth as far as I could, glancing at my other boss sitting next to me. She stared straight ahead and made no effort to come to my defense.

It was 2016, and I was stuck in one of the most toxic jobs I’ve had yet.

With a potential recession looming, there’s worry that workers will be forced back into the office — or worse, forced to stay in toxic jobs like the one I experienced. But is a return to the so-called “normalcy” of the office beneficial to all? Not likely.

While the office may be the most productive option for some, it remains a hub of toxicity, distractions, and even prejudice for others.

If the future of the workplace is to become equal, fair, and productive for all, it’s high time we rethink what the physical definition of the workplace is and how we balance opportunities that come with face-to-face versus virtual interactions.

Almost a quarter of US workers dread going to work

If you look at it from a distance, the Great Resignation shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Even in 2019, before COVID flipped life as we knew it upside down, 26% of US workers dreaded going to work and one in five left their job thanks to toxic culture, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

The epidemic of workplace toxicity is so rampant that you’ll find thousands of articles online detailing the symptoms and solutions for employees stuck in such situations. Commute times, caregiving, family life, and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic also weigh on employees’ preference to spend more time working at home.

So why do companies want workers back in the office?

A common rationale for this “butts in seats” mentality is that workers are more productive at the office. In June 2022, Elon Musk sent a now infamous email to Tesla staff stating that, going forward, employees must spend at least 40 hours in the office. Musk has apparently backtracked a bit, saying that “exceptional” Twitter employees could continue working from home. (This was before Musk decided not to take over Twitter, of course.)

I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to see the kind of work-life balance an employee has to maintain to be considered “exceptional” by Musk. He recently praised workers at the Tesla factory in Shanghai for “burning the 3 am oil” and working 12-hour shifts for six days a week. (He also accused U.S. workers of “trying to avoid going to work at all.”)

Offices — especially open workspaces — kill creativity

But are employees more productive in the office compared to at home?

Employees at Apple don’t think so. In fact, more than 3,000 employees protested the company’s recent announcement that employees will be required to work in the office for three out of five days by signing a letter sharing their thoughts on in-office work. The requirement has since been delayed, but Apple employees’ points regarding productivity, creativity, and diversity still deserve a response.

One comment about the need for space that supports deep thought caught my eye — mostly because it’s a drum many of us creatives have been banging for years.

“What is also required for creativity and excellent work for many of us is time for deep thought. But being in an office often does not enable this, especially not many of our newer offices, with their open floor plans, which make it hard to concentrate on anything for an extended amount of time.” — Current and former Apple employees

Open workspaces are immensely detrimental to creative work.

Even a disruption as small as someone walking past in the hallway, let alone having to get up and answer the front door every time someone arrives, can obliterate your flow state. Not to mention that open workspaces almost always result in at least one team sitting next to the good old Silicon Valley trope: a ping pong table and cafeteria.

At the same toxic job I mentioned before, I was one of the people sitting closest to the main entrance. For some reason, one of the office administrators thought a content marketing professional was the best choice for answering that main door. I was told I needed to sign for packages and escort visitors, despite having no idea who most of the company staff were, let alone where they sat.

My productivity and creativity plummeted. Every time I found myself in a flow state, that obnoxious door buzzer would squeal for attention. No noise-canceling headphones would save me — I was in clear view of the door and visitors would continue to press the buzzer until I came over.

Flow states aside, an open office or even simply working in close quarters with others can negatively impact the productivity of highly sensitive people. Those who are highly sensitive are easily overwhelmed by loud noises, crowds, and even the emotions of those around them.* Approximately 15 to 20% of people are highly sensitive and could find it challenging to be productive in an open office environment.

And while Apple’s move to return to the office was cited as a return to “the serendipity that comes from bumping into colleagues,” data suggests that open workspaces actually decrease in-person collaboration along with creativity.

A 2018 study conducted by Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban analyzed the face-to-face and online interactions of employees who worked in two different corporate headquarters that were in the process of transitioning to open workspaces. The study found that, instead of increasing in-person interactions, the open workspace decreased person-to-person interactions by 70%.

Let’s read that again: The open workspace decreased the amount of face-to-face interactions employees experienced by 70% compared to a traditional office layout.

Those with high-functioning depression and anxiety suffer more at the office

The high-functioning aspect of depression and anxiety allows those suffering to appear just like everyone else at the office: capable, productive, and successful.

But under the facade, these employees’ mental health issues could be exacerbated by their work environment. Social anxiety could rear its ugly head every time there’s an impromptu meeting or your boss passes by your desk for small talk. And informal office socializing (or a feeling of being left out) can cause depression to spiral further if someone’s already having a bad day.

Schools in Europe are already seeing children with mental health and anxiety issues refuse to return to the classroom. It should be no surprise that many adults feel the same way about returning to the office.

On the other end of the spectrum, some people with high-functioning anxiety are prone to taking their work home with them. That tendency makes full-time work from home dangerous, since there are typically no clear divisions between work time and personal time.

The scientific community claims more research is needed to fully understand how working from home affects mental health. That isn’t surprising, considering we’re all different: Some of us prefer the comfort of home and others prefer the structure of the office.

This is just one more reason why employees should have a choice about whether to return to the office and why employers should provide support for both in-office and remote workers. Besides, a lack of company support could see ADA lawsuits, since the Americans with Disabilities Act covers mental health accommodations.

I know I don’t speak for all those with mental health issues, but the chance to work from home for me is a chance to seek solace and space when I need it. If something becomes too overwhelming, I can quickly detach for a moment and calm myself down.

This is by far a better solution than shutting myself into a bathroom stall to sob quietly at the office.

Some employees don’t want more face-to-face time with coworkers

Requiring everyone to come back to the office could have a negative impact on diversity in the workplace and potentially result in less work equity for some.

Surveys conducted by Harvard Business Review in 2020 and 2021 show that people of color and educated women with children prefer to work at home, especially when compared to white workers and men. This makes a lot of sense when you consider that workplaces are often rife with macro and microaggressions, while women often take on more unpaid labor, like household chores and childcare, than men and may find it easier to balance these demands while at home.

A lack of women and people of color filling spots in leadership also contributes to the disparity in who wants to return to the office versus who’d rather stay at home.

Brian Elliott, senior vice president of Slack, noted that “executives have a better setup at work.”

And it’s true: with higher pay executives can better afford childcare. For those that have an office, they can retreat when needed, shut the door, and focus on their work while the rest of us try to mentally shut out the hubbub of an open office.

But most frustrating is that executives tend to believe their way is the best way instead of listening to their employees’ requests for more flexible work options.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, remarked last year that working from home “doesn’t work for those who want to hustle. It doesn’t work for spontaneous idea generation. It doesn’t work for culture.”

Dimon’s statements frame the disparity between executives’ way of thinking and your average employees’ desired workplace treatment. And while some won’t get the choice to leave and find a better place to work, many others will take their executives up on this empty threat. In the end, both companies and employees suffer.

If company culture spreads through a workplace from the top down, then it’s baffling how unrealistic expectations such as 12-hour, six-day shifts continue to be the norm — even praised — at many large companies. Especially when toxic culture remains one of the top reasons why good employees leave.

Researchers Donald Sull, Charles Sull, and Ben Zweig at MIT Sloan noted that company culture is a reliable way to predict whether a business will lose workers or not.

It’s time for corporate America to wake up to this statistic and acknowledge that no amount of ping pong tables or catered office lunches can fix toxic leadership or culture. The age of spending 9 to 5 at the office is no longer feasible for all.

Toxicity outweighs compensation when it comes to reasons why employees quit

MIT Sloan’s study puts toxic culture far ahead of compensation as reasons why workers leave companies.

“A toxic corporate culture, for example, is 10.4 times more powerful than compensation in predicting a company’s attrition rate compared with its industry.” — Donald Sull, Charles Sull, and Ben Zweig

And despite earning the largest salary I’d ever received in my life, I was absolutely ready to ghost the toxic job I had in 2016. No amount of compensation could keep me there, engaging in conversations with the back of my boss’s head because she refused to turn around and look at me when we talked.

Sure, the pay was great, but the toll the toxicity took on my health was not.

Transitioning to toxic waste cleanup

A recent Inc. guide to pushing through rough workdays notes you shouldn’t run from your problems.

But toxic workplaces are a choice of fight, flight, or freeze, and most of us choose the second or third option rather than the first. Standing up for yourself and refusing to run from the problem of a toxic boss could set you up for new trauma — or possibly termination.

The best choice is likely flight, or looking for a new job.

Unfortunately, toxic waste left behind by a horrible boss doesn’t magically get hoovered up once you swap jobs. A business may focus on decreased productivity and the cost of attrition as the biggest areas of concern when it comes to dealing with its toxic environment. For employees, the depression and burnout from a toxic workplace lurks in the back of their minds even after they leave.

But it is possible to heal.

Lori Deschene of Tiny Buddha reminds us that you shouldn’t regret how difficult situations change you.

“Even if your future doesn’t unfold exactly as you’d planned, you’ll never regret what you become through the process of following your bliss.” — Lori Deschene

The lessons I’ve learned from horribly toxic bosses still stick with me today. Sure, they’re lessons in what NOT to do, but they’re still lessons and I still learned from them. Reframing the situation (even though that tends to happen after it’s all over) helps us retrieve our positive outlook on life.

Humor was also a huge component in my healing.

I admit, I can be a very sarcastic person. But a combination of sarcastic humor and venting was a much-needed balm to my scorched self esteem.

And thank god my family let me vent.

Venting helps your body relax by releasing calming hormones. It’s shown to help your nervous system back down from fight or flight mode to a less panicked state of mind. So while you may feel guilty at first for letting the dam burst in front of your loved ones, venting is a much-needed part of healing.

It’s a hard line to walk when someone you know is so damaged and overwhelmed by a traumatic experience that it’s all they talk about. Bless my family for balancing on this tightrope.

If you’re in a toxic job now or just recently left one, it does get better. It may take a while, but reframing the situation, a little humor, and support can help you push through the sludge to the clean waters beyond.

*Disclaimer: I’m a friend of the author, Cara Haynes, and was interviewed for this article.