The office matters more as technology changes work

The world of work seems to be headed for an unprecedented transformation, as increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models take on tasks that, until quite recently, were considered the preserve of educated and experienced human beings. The race is grossly unequal.

White-collar workers cannot keep adding to their natural intelligence the way AI developers can boost the capabilities of their models with more computing power and graphics processing units. Even advanced mathematics is becoming a testing ground for AI. What chance do ordinary people have?

Humans have to find new ways to prove their worth to their employers if current trends are anything to go by. For better or worse, some of the big guns of the AI industry have stopped trying to put a brave face on the problem and are speaking more openly about the jobs that could disappear. For those who spent years acquiring the qualifications for those very jobs, this is hardly reassuring.

Many suggestions are doing the rounds and several books have already been written on the topic. The threat to white-collar jobs comes just a few years into what many thought was a giant leap forward in terms of convenience, flexibility and time saving: remote working. However, as AI tools take over more tasks performed by knowledge workers, the advantages of spending at least some time in an office may become more obvious.

To be sure, some workers can choose professions that are seen as less threatened by AI and automation. There may be something to be said for a blue-collar job in these uncertain times, but changing professions requires training, money and time, and is easier suggested than done.

Humans have to find new ways to prove their worth to their employers if current trends are anything to go by
Arnab Neil Sengupta

Those who want to keep their knowledge-based jobs must therefore demonstrate that they can bring something to their work beyond what an AI tool can produce. That may be harder if they work fully remotely, particularly if they are young and have had little exposure to office culture or experienced colleagues.

What exactly might they miss out on? There is quite a list, although it must be said at the outset that simply being present at a desk is no guarantee of learning anything.

First of all, people who work alongside colleagues learn how work really gets done. Many decisions depend on unwritten rules, institutional history and informal knowledge that rarely appears in WhatsApp exchanges, documents or the material available to ChatGPT and Claude. What looks like a straightforward decision from the outside can have a complicated history behind it.

They can pick up skills by watching others. Sitting near experienced colleagues makes it easier to observe how they handle clients and suppliers, solve problems, use AI tools and judge when an answer needs checking. There are things one learns this way without realizing at the time that a lesson is being learned.

Ditto informal coaching. Whether you are an administrative assistant or a graduate trainee, a quick question or conversation can lead to useful feedback before a small mistake becomes a larger one. Of course, someone can ask the same question remotely. But they must first know whom to ask and feel comfortable enough to make the call.

This matters all the more if AI removes the routine tasks through which beginners used to learn their trade. A recent Wall Street Journal report describes a problem some managers call “experience starvation.” The work everyone wanted to get rid of may have been doing something useful after all: giving junior employees practice. Saving time is desirable but finding out years later that nobody knows how to check the machine’s work is less so.

Everyday contact also helps build trust and rapport. Colleagues and managers get a clearer sense of someone’s judgment, reliability and working style when they interact regularly. And the relationships need not remain purely professional. No wonder so many people have met their closest friends, and sometimes their spouses, at work.

Sensitive, complicated or unclear subjects are often easier to discuss face to face than through a chain of emails
Arnab Neil Sengupta

Those who spend time in the office may also hear about opportunities or impending problems sooner. Informal conversations can reveal new projects, changing priorities, openings and crucial company decisions before they are formally announced. Not every conversation near the coffee machine is idle gossip.

Some issues can be resolved faster too. Sensitive, complicated or unclear subjects are often easier to discuss face to face than through a chain of electronic messages, each requiring another explanation. Anyone who has spent half a day trying to clear up an email misunderstanding will know the feeling.

Familiarity makes it easier to disagree, ask for help and understand what a colleague is really trying to say, especially when a team is under pressure. Watching a senior colleague handle a difficult conversation can be useful training in itself. A person can know the right answer and still have no idea how to persuade others to accept it.

Working near colleagues and decision-makers can also help employees use AI more intelligently. They get a better idea of which problems matter, what information is missing and where human judgment is essential. An answer may sound impressive and still fail to address what the organization actually needs.

There is also the question of visibility. In some organizations, regular contact helps employees demonstrate initiative and become known for their contributions. Also, much professional learning happens between formal assignments: after a meeting, during a discussion about a client or when somebody explains why an apparently sensible suggestion will not work. These are small things but over the years they add up.

Adam Grant, a Wharton School organizational psychologist, last month told The Wall Street Journal that “the currency of success is shifting under our feet.” For employees wondering what to do about it, learning from other people would seem a sensible place to start.

To be sure, the benefits of remote working are many. For white-collar workers, the disappearance of the daily commute can mean fewer hours lost in traffic, lower transport costs and more time for sleep, exercise and family. Anyone who has gained an extra hour or two a day this way is unlikely to regard returning to the office as an unquestionable blessing.

The flexibility can be particularly valuable to parents, new mothers and people with health issues and disabilities, for whom daily office attendance may involve considerable practical difficulties. Employers, in turn, can recruit beyond commuting distance, retain competent employees whose circumstances have changed and reduce their need for expensive office space. Where the work can be judged by its quality and timely completion, physical distance need not be an obstacle.

There is also the undeniable attraction of having greater control over the working day. For tasks requiring concentration, such as writing an op-ed, a quiet home offers relief from office interruptions, background chatter and meetings that consume more time than necessary. Sometimes, the best way to get the work done is to be left alone to do it.

All things considered, however, the comforts of working from home have to be weighed against the demands of a working world that is changing faster than most of us can keep up with. As AI takes over more of the work that once justified a salary, employees will need all the help they can get to remain useful.

Mentoring, disagreements and learning from experienced colleagues may acquire a value that was easy to overlook when jobs seemed more secure. The office cannot promise tomorrow’s workers a stable future but it may give them a better chance of preparing for it.