Some employees thrive on working on the couch in sweatpants. Malcolm Gladwell is not among them – at least not anymore.
While some types of work—freelance writing, for example—may not require regular office attendance, Gladwell says recent experience has convinced him that “offices really matter” for “collaborative, creative work.”
Gladwell is the author of bestsellers such as “The Tipping Point” and “Talking to Strangers.” His comments come after a social media firestorm sparked by a July episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast hosted by British entrepreneur Stephen Bartlett. On the show, Gladwell said that employees working from home can be “socially disconnected from their organization.” Their work may be less inspired, he said, and companies may experience higher turnover.
The observation comes from his own experience, Gladwell said. In 2018, he co-founded Pushkin Industries, a podcast and audiobook company. In recent months, he’s noticed that employees who frequently come into the office and connect with colleagues seem more excited and stay with the company longer.
“It’s not in your best interest to work from home,” Gladwell said on the podcast. “If you’re just sitting in your pajamas in your bedroom, is that the working life you want to live? … What have you reduced your life to?”
After the interview was published, Gladwell’s comments went viral and drew accusations of hypocrisy. Twitter users were quick to point out that Gladwell once had a reputation for working remotely himself.
Several people posted links and screenshots of a 2008 New York magazine article that said Gladwell’s editors at The New Yorker sent couriers to pick up his fact-checking material so he didn’t have to comes to the midtown Manhattan office.
In 2010, he also wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed on the joys and tribulations of writing in coffee shops around the world, a routine he says he’s had for “much of my adult life.”
When does telecommuting make sense, according to Gladwell
During that time, however, Gladwell worked as a freelance writer for The New Yorker, he told CNBC Make It. He also wrote two books between 2008 and 2010: Outliers and What the Dog Saw.
This type of one-on-one work doesn’t require his physical presence in a corporate office, he says.
The nature of his work in Pushkin, Gladwell says, is much more collaborative and therefore requires a different arrangement. The experience hasn’t changed his mind about telecommuting. Rather, it has changed his perspective, he says.
“For solitary work — like writing a book — I’m not sure it’s an issue whether you’re in an office or not,” Gladwell wrote to CNBC Make It in an email. “For collaborative, creative work – of the kind I’m doing now [at Pushkin] – it’s really a question of what the purpose of your work is at any given time.”
Although Gladwell didn’t specify exactly how many days per week Pushkin employees would ideally be in the office, his concerns seem to echo those of several employers. In March, Microsoft released a survey that revealed that 50 percent of leaders already require or plan to require employees to work in-person full-time in the next year.
This contrasts with research published by the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City, which found that 50% of workers would also prefer a hybrid schedule, even after the pandemic.
So far, it seems that Pushkin is partly in line with public opinion. The company’s current job openings say the staff positions will be based in New York, New York, or Los Angeles, California, with a hybrid work schedule.
Sign up now: Be smarter about your money and your career with our weekly newsletter
Do not miss:
Making work friends is hard, but it can make you happier and more fulfilled – here’s how
1 in 4 Gen Z workers worry that taking a lunch break makes them look bad at work
Add Comment