Zoom

In a future of hybrid work, the videoconferencing giant Zoom sees the office more like an off-site.

The office was so crowded back then that employees looking for a place to work often found themselves spilling into hallways. But like other pandemic winners, Zoom is one of the past year’s biggest [stock-market losers](https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-08-23-2022/card/zoom-shares-tumble-on-weaker-outlook-6SdlrPvfN1AsWRrDmTVr?mod=article_inline). “It worked before the pandemic because we were all in the office, and it worked once we got it figured out at home because we were all at home,” Ms. I have to admit that visiting Zoom’s offices to meet people in person felt a bit like eating in the Pepsi cafeteria and ordering a Coke. Their data suggests that knowledge workers prefer the office [a few days a week](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-optimal-workweek-is-two-days-in-the-office-not-three-remote-hybrid-work-11650588893?mod=article_inline)—not every day, but not never. [disruptions of hybrid work](https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-thought-working-from-home-was-messy-here-comes-hybrid-work-11621935000?mod=article_inline) vexing businesses [around the world](https://www.wsj.com/articles/meetings-are-broken-tech-is-trying-to-fix-them-11655292666?mod=article_inline). Zoom gave employees permission to work from home forever earlier this year, and only 1% are regular office presences, with 75% living remotely and the rest identifying themselves as hybrid workers. But now, as people return to the office more regularly, and often in a hybrid work split, the debate over how and where employees should work rages on. But what if employers want employees to come into the office for collaborative efforts, and what does the future hold for hybrid work? “What is the purpose of an office?” said Matthew Saxon, Zoom’s chief people officer. So far it has discovered that many people do want to work from offices—even people at Zoom. When the pandemic struck and restrictions meant people had to work from home, many people expected the previously most popular video conferencing software, Skype, to be the most popular choice for remote virtual meetings; but instead, a relatively unknown company, Zoom, took the crown.