We promised our employees the best of both worlds. We told them hybrid work would offer the autonomy of remote work combined with the collaborative energy of the office. We sold them on "flexibility."
But for many, that flexibility has mutated into something exhausting: Logistics.
Every morning, or perhaps late every Sunday night, your employees are performing a complex mental calculation. “If I go in on Tuesday, will Sarah be there? Or is she in on Wednesday? If I go in on Wednesday, is there a desk near the marketing team, or will I be stuck in the overflow area? Is the commute worth it if I spend the whole day on Zoom calls with people who stayed home?”
This is the Coordination Tax.
It is the time, energy, and cognitive load wasted on the simple act of figuring out where and how to work. And right now, in organisations without the right digital infrastructure, your employees are paying this tax out of their own pockets—specifically, from their reserves of productivity and morale.