PUNTO LINGUA BA

Level: B1-B2

SERENDIPITY: COLLATERAL LOSS OF REMOTE WORK?

Preparation Task

1. Discuss these questions.

a. What do you think are the advantages of working from home? And the disadvantages?
b. What do you think are the advantages of working from an office? And the disadvantages?
c. Do you think people need to go to offices to do their job properly?
d. Are you familiar with the term “serendipity”?

2. Join these words (a-e) with the correct definition (1-5)

1. Distrust a. to make the same journey regularly

2. Commute between work and home.
3. Bump into (sb / sth) b. Real (rather than part of an idea or plan)
c. to meet sb you know when you have not
4. Thus
planned to meet them
5. Actual
d. Therefore
e. to not trust someone or something

Now read the Article

Adapted from Buenos Aires Times

For years before the coronavirus pandemic, most companies saw remote work as not serious, or as a perk. It was
something to be offered on Fridays or as part of a special package for working parents. Many companies thought
that it was inefficient and ineffective. They often distrusted the concept of their employees working beyond their
control.

The sudden turnaround most professionals had to make in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has (1) proven this
misconception wrong. Remote work is just as efficient, and even in the case of the working parents who have
made huge sacrifices, has been just as effective. We have all shown that we can work remotely, responsibly and
productively. But is being productive all that work is about?

It turns out that it is not. As Dr. Giancarlo Petriglieri, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour said in a
recent Harvard Business Review article ‘In praise of the office’: “The point of the office … is not to make people
more productive. It is to bring them together.”

And what happens when people are together? They start talking and sparking ideas off each other. In an article for
the BBC, Dr. Lynda Grattan, a professor at the London Business School who specializes in the future of work, states
that “quite a lot of the ways that we make decisions in organizations aren't made in meetings. They're made in the
corridors.”

Many professionals who commuted to offices before the pandemic, often complaining bitterly while they were
there, now miss their offices. Of course, this is partly to do with the strain of working at home with everyone else
trapped there too, with negligible social life. But it is also because they miss aspects that are essential to office life:
the banter, the buzz and, above all, the camaraderie.

If you have ever worked in an office you may have had that serendipitous moment when you went to get a cup of
coffee or bumped into someone casually in the lift and had an important conversation, sometimes even a life-
changing one. These are the moments that are very hard to replicate through remote work. Companies today do
PUNTO LINGUA BA
Level: B1-B2
virtual breakfasts, bingo and online games, but it all tends to be a little forced and unnatural, and is more about
team building than sparking creativity.

Remote work is functional, but it does not allow space for creative interaction. We will have to work hard to
recreate that. Companies around the world are evaluating whether and how to send people back to their offices
and many, including Twitter, Facebook and BP, are opting to continue with remote work for the present moment.
Thus, we must begin to think ahead, to evaluate what the office of the future will look like and be like. In a BBC
graphic article from August we can see a future where “the only reason Laila [the protagonist] goes into the office
now is for this kind of interaction – in which meeting people in real life produces better results than seeing each
other online.”

Once again this refers back to productivity but ignores creativity, that water cooler moment when a random
conversation sparks off something new and unexpected.

In a recent SAGE webinar, “Top tips for switching to teaching online,” Dr. Tom Chatfield, author, tech philosopher
and educator, suggested opening up online classrooms for 15 minutes before and after the actual class. He
promotes this to encourage random creative conversations. While this may work in the classroom, it is hard to
implement at work, where people often have back-to-back virtual meetings all day long.

As companies around the world rethink going back to the office, let us hope that they do not ignore the value of
serendipity and find ways of recreating those water cooler moments online.

Task 1

Complete the following sentences with the highlighted words:

1. A company car and a mobile phone are some of the ________ (plural) that come with the job.
2. They deserve ______ for all their hard work.
3. Their constant arguments were putting a ________ on their marriage.
4. Business was up over 40% in a dramatic __________ from last year.
5. Her comments __________ a furious debate in the media.
6. The difference between the two products is ____________. It’s only $2!
7. The video went viral as it showed the fun _______ between the comedian and the actor.

Task 2

Are these sentences True or False?

1. According to the article, before the pandemic, many employees regarded home office as a benefit.
2. In (1), the misconception the author refers to is that it was thought that remote work was not as efficient
as working from the office.
3. According to Dr. Lynda Grattan offices are beneficial only for the employees’ personal reasons.
4. Nowadays, some people miss the office because they miss the social aspect of it.
5. Important conversation outside formal meetings are easy to be recreated remotely.
6. It will be difficult to recreate creative interaction outside the office.
7. The author regards informal interaction important.

Task 3

Write an essay weighing the pros and cons of working remotely vs. working in an office. (min. 250 words)