Today we offer condolences as the world mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday at the age of 96. As the longest-serving British monarch, she was a stable presence through tectonic historical shifts — economic and otherwise — in the lives of several generations. Even as the monarchy itself faced controversy, she remained a popular figure.

Although she was destined to become a head of state from birth, she inspired a unique respect and love based on her strong, steady, and empathetic communication with her country. It’s a lesson from which every leader could learn. Her leadership was especially effective in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as she reassured billions across the globe, “We will meet again.”

Return to office … or else: It’s getting ugly out there.

Psychologist: Reach flow state faster.

Stranger Things: New season’s EQ lesson is “plane” as day.

(Source: Shutterstock)

The showdown between WFH and RTO (return-to-office) policies is getting ugly, and people on both sides of the argument are determined to win.

You might’ve heard that Apple employees are protesting the new RTO policy that CEO Tim Cook plans to enforce. It would require employees to go into the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays — and again on a third day that is determined by their teams. Seems reasonable enough, especially for an Apple salary? Workers say nope.

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO, is reportedly pressuring employees to come back five days per week. (Half of business leaders want to do the same.) Some bosses are even threatening pay cuts for remote workers. Is it possible to create an RTO policy that satisfies executives and employees alike?

The Case for RTO

Employees are not the boss, this argument goes — the boss is the boss — and WFH is a privilege, not a right.

A line cook or grocery store cashier (the essential workers who risked their lives in 2020) can’t exactly log in remotely. How is it fair that society expects people earning minimum wage to wake up at the crack of dawn to commute while the upper-middle class gets to stay in their pajamas until 5 p.m.?

Plus, Zoom meetings lead to worse brainstorming and nonexistent company culture. The COVID vaccine has been available for over a year, and if you can watch Top Gun: Maverick in a theater for the sixth time, you can show up for your job. Your parents told you it’s called “work” because it’s not fun, right?

OK, that sounded harsh, we know. Here’s the other side …

The Case for WFH Forever

Employees are the lifeblood of any organization. To attract and retain top talent, companies need to keep them satisfied … and telecommuting technology has allowed for much greater satisfaction for millions. At Apple, workers claim to be “happier and more productive” working remotely.

They also claim that requiring an in-office workforce is bad for diversity. In fact, research does show that marginalized groups face transportation inequality. And WFH makes life easier for many workers with disabilities.

Plus, commuting is bad for the environment. If your company is committed to sustainability like you always claim, why are you making every worker burn fossil fuels?

The Great Compromise

Everybody needs to make some concessions here and we all know it. The hybrid approach may be the only solution to (mostly) appease all parties.

Employers: If remote work is doable and popular in your industry, give workers some flexibility and trust as long as their work is getting done.

Employees: In exchange for this flexibility and trust (and if coming into the office isn’t a legit burden for you), it’s a reasonable request to show commitment to the organization with your presence some of the time.

So, you’ve seen all sides. Which one are you on?

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Dr. Steven Rogelberg is a Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte and former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

When you are fully immersed in a task, totally absorbed and focused — and enjoying each minute of it — that is flow. Being in flow is associated with productivity, satisfaction, and happiness at work.

But when something interrupts our flow state, it causes stress, frustration, and hurts productivity. So how can we keep it flowing?

The Biggest Flow Interrupter: Meetings

With meeting activity at an all-time high, it’s hard to find blocks of time to engage in deep work and achieve flow. With meetings spread throughout the workday, you may not have enough time to get key tasks done.

Refocusing after a meeting, an example of what organizational psychologists call task-switching, is not an immediate cognitive process. It takes time and mental energy.

Hold Consecutive Meetings for Better Flow

If you can cluster all your meetings together — in the morning, around lunch, or in the afternoon — you increase opportunities for flow by decreasing interruptions. Alternatively, consider holding meetings at natural transition times. (Meetings scheduled around lunch require one fewer task-switch.)

You worked hard to build a cluster of free time to increase your chances of entering flow. Don’t forget to block it off on your calendar.

Do you have a question for the Organizational Psychologist’s Couch? Email b.newsletter@business.com and you could see the answer here.

(Source: Netflix)

Take note: spoilers ahead for season four of Stranger Things.

You can learn a lot from Netflix’s latest batch of adventures in Hawkins, Indiana: Music can be a remedy for trauma (and monsters) … pineapple pizza will always be controversial … and emotional intelligence is an essential aspect of negotiations. 

When Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and Jim Hopper (David Harbour) need to get back to the U.S. from Russia, their untrustworthy pilot Yuri (Nikola Djuricko) wastes time instead of fixing his plane. After days of trying to bully, rationalize, criticize, scare, beat, and threaten Yuri into repairing it, former prison guard Dimitri (Tom Wlaschia) tries a new approach.

In a Russian heart-to-heart moment, Dimitri reminds Yuri of the hero and great man he used to be in his glory days. He also convinces Yuri that the Upside Down’s great evil won’t stop in America; it’s eventually coming for them, their families, and their “motherland.” The emotional pep talk does the trick, and Yuri fixes the plane just in time to save the day.

Likewise, demands won’t get you far in business, but a good sense of what makes people tick will. Emotional intelligence can make you 50% more likely to accomplish your goal in negotiations — even if it’s unlikely to convince naysayers that pineapple will ever belong on a pizza. 

Written by Skye Schooley, Dr. Steven Rogelberg, and Ali Saleh. Comic by John McNamee.