Here’s the party line, in case you’ve missed it: Working from home is best for when you need heads-down, deep-thinking, focused work. The office is best for collaborating, brainstorming, and bonding with your team. But what happens when you’re in the office and inevitably still have to take a Zoom call?
The answer, as scores of in-person workers have been angry to find, is that the workplace is often incapable of supporting deep work at all, largely because of how incredibly noisy pre-pandemic open floor plans can be. Because it’s difficult to segment in-office days as purely collaborative, and Zoom meetings will inevitably pop up, offices keen on welcoming workers back in at least some of the time must factor in areas where quiet is king.
