A Chance to Tame Your Inner Workaholic

The most engaged employees are those who put in face time at the office, WeWork’s CEO, Sandeep Mathrani, declared last week, while “those who are least engaged are very comfortable working from home.” This is from a man whose livelihood depends on the profitability of commercial real estate. It’s as if the Staples chief executive said the most engaged workers are the ones who use the most Post-It notes.

Nevertheless, many bosses surely share Mathrani’s view — and many employees worry that theirs also see face time as a proxy for commitment or value. Such anxiety has helped push workers to put in more hours while working remotely during the pandemic — an extra 2.5 hours a day in the U.S.