Yes, Zoom is convenient. But little by little it is diminishing our humanity

Now is a wonderful moment for the ambitious to gain a competitive advantage: be the one who asks for a face-toface meeting

Working from home may be the biggest permanent change for many people after the pandemic finally ends. Plenty have embraced it not because they dislike their workplace – but because they hate commuting.

But while getting to and from the office may be tedious and expensive (London has some of the longest commutes of any major city in the world) working remotely has significant drawbacks. Endless work online turns you into a desiccated Zoom machine – disengaged from real human contact, missing all the humour, nuance and serendipity of face-to-face contact.

I work for myself in our own building, so I decided to come back to the office from May last year. I want physical separation from home when doing business, a change of scenery, stepping out into the world every day rather than hiding away in a makeshift home study.

The mental health impact of isolation on a workforce is unknown, but I suspect it is damaging. Humans live in communities like towns and cities for sound reasons – we need the company and support of others to live life to the full. Spending months on end almost never meeting anyone but those with whom you actually cohabit is not healthy. I think this enforced solitude has added to the nation’s sense of fear, and the undeniable growth of issues like hypochondria and agoraphobia.

It is also becoming increasingly evident that virtual meetings are no substitute for the real thing. The connection and energy are absent from the room. During lockdowns I have been obliged to do many job interviews using video conferencing – but they lack the warmth and empathy provided by the physical presence of another human being. We are organic creatures, hard-wired to respond to social and visual cues. As we squat behind our keyboards, we are gradually eroding our networks and fraying the cultures of the organisations with which we work.

No one denies Zoom is convenient. But like many trade-offs involving convenience, quality suffers. Take home-delivered cooked meals: nice if you can’t be bothered to go out or cook. But they are a far inferior experience to a freshly prepared meal in a restaurant, with food served from a kitchen you can see, rather than a soggy dish that has spent half an hour on the back of a moped.

Any meeting that matters should be done in person: closing a key sale, an important investment pitch, a sensitive negotiation. Where chemistry and persuasion come in to play, don’t give in to laziness – turn up and shake hands. Now is a wonderful moment for the ambitious to gain a competitive advantage: be the one who asks for a face-to-face meeting. Idle rivals will use Zoom or Teams by default – and miss out.

The Government has said that restrictions will be lifted in workplaces from July 19, so companies will face a tug of war in persuading their staff to return. Many are afraid of using crowded public transport during rush hours. Others have developed a new lifestyle of waking up later, and perhaps taking the dog for a walk during the day, and will be very reluctant to surrender these “freedoms”. Moreover, for millions the resumption of commuting will feel like a pay cut – because they have spent nothing on daily travelling expenses for 15 months. Working from home effectively gave around 15 million people a pay rise. The unions will be pushing hard for permanent job flexibility – and the threat of litigation looms from staff who don’t feel “safe” in the office. Managing human resources will be a harder task than it used to be, persuading employees that the workplace is a positive place to be.

Across the various businesses with which I’m involved, there are some who want to stay furloughed – they have enjoyed being paid to stay at home and do no work. There are others who have moved away and cannot realistically start commuting to work again. But in all cases, the leaders with whom I partner are worried about how they manage and motivate a remote workforce in the long term. The historic social capital which bound teams together has withered over time. Distance means trust is harder to maintain. And in some businesses, bosses will be looking to replace highly paid British staff with much cheaper overseas alternatives.

Some large firms will save money by reducing their office footprint, so eliminating occupancy costs. But I think this may prove to be a false economy. Virtual communications are worse than the real thing, and corporate culture really matters.

The last 15 months have proved to me beyond doubt that it is vital to be in the room with work colleagues as much as possible. Anything else is a poor second.