January is a month of penance, planning and prediction. Dieting and alcoholic denial hang out with escapist holiday booking and acting on those ‘let’s get together in 2025’ entreaties made during the Christmas goodwill fest.

And then there are the soothsayers. With their forecasts of what to expect this year. Good luck to them. There is too much uncertainty and bad behaviour in the world for reliable prophesies.

I’m just grateful to be living in a safe country, hopeful that our new government will soon emerge from its clumsy infancy to tackle the country’s pressing societal issues while doing its bit internationally.

At a more accessible level, an early candidate for topic de jour is the heated discussion about working from home (WFH) versus back to commuting.

Amazon now requires employees to be in the office five days a week. The US’s biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase, will mandate the same from March. The latter’s staff announcement reveals the rationale: “…the benefits of working together in person are substantial and irreplaceable, and as we spend more time together, the more advantages we gain.”

In the comms industry too, WFH’s days appear numbered. CEO of WPP, Mark Read, will insist on at least four days a week in the office from April, while offering more latitude for employees with special considerations.

Again, the management argument focuses on engagement and financial return, with the added reference to client requests for more personal contact as their own organisations readopt the office. I know from my work that clients want to rekindle face-to-face meetings.

Read’s decision has been met with a 10,000-signature petition as battle lines are drawn.

It’s a tough one this. There is no silver bullet.

WFH behaviours have become embedded since the pandemic. Cost and lifestyle benefits have been banked. Flexibility is the new buzzword and rightly so. Shaking up working practices has led to the acknowledgment and accommodation of historically underrepresented groups. As well as helping everyone understand the tyranny of work/life imbalance.

On the other hand, concerns grow about the longer-term impact of remote working. Creeping isolation, diminished learning and development, purely premeditated collaboration and communication (without spontaneity or the off chance).

And the jury is still out on productivity.

There is merit in both camps and surely a thoughtful, bespoke hybrid solution remains optimal?

But in healthily respecting our individualism, we must beware of selfishness. In the workplace, we are obliged to discharge our contracted duties. In a performance culture, we strive for more, above and beyond.

Breaking new ground is rarely possible without strong relationships. These cannot be established on Zoom or Teams alone. Online relationships operate rather than flourish. As such, making the effort to meet in person can enhance individual and corporate effectiveness.

Internally, also, we are responsible for nurturing our teams, especially the younger members. This does not happen by appointment. Rather from fluid, unpredictable dialogue and observation. It’s the alchemy of community and it’s priceless. As a former colleague once reminded me, an agency that hums on the inside buzzes on the outside.

Whatever blend of the working week you choose, therefore, fully functioning relationships build business and need time spent together.