Slack’s technology chief says staff are returning to the office, with flexibility key to hybrid working
The head of technology at Slack, a messaging platform widely used during the pandemic, has confirmed some of the company’s employees are heading back to the office on a hybrid basis.
Cal Henderson made his comments after the firm added almost 60,000 corporate customers during coronavirus, amid a boom of home working, and then hybrid working.
On getting employees to come back to their desk, he said according to The Telegraph, there is not “a good technology solution” just yet that fully replicates ad hoc hallway conversations or the experience of white boarding for physically working in the same place as colleagues.
While admitting “hybrid is definitely here to stay”, as employers cannot put the “genie back in the bottle”, the firm’s tech boss promoted flexibility.
He said Slack is “still valuable” as more people returned to the office, and acknowledged it was more useful when everyone was working remotelysome of the time.
In the UK, the government has been urging people to return to the office, with the Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, Jacob Rees-Mogg, recently criticised for having put post-it notes on civil servants’ desks, with the plea.