In this article, Laurent Boghossian, Comedian, Keynote Speaker and Leadership expert, explores ideas such as physical presence, employee belonging, remote work, human interaction, and the limits of an increasingly digital workplace.

The Need to Feel Connected to the Organization

I remember one of my interventions in a company providing home-based medical equipment. Under increasing pressure, reduced staffing and larger territories, healthcare professionals were spending more time travelling and less time at their company premises.

One employee explained that, after finishing work late, she deliberately returned to the office before going home. Despite her family waiting for her, she needed to spend time in the company’s premises simply to feel that she belonged to the organization. She needed to reconnect, breathe and find her place within the company.

Human Beings Are Physical

This experience illustrates a broader principle: human beings are physical beings.

Not everyone has the same relationship with work. Some employees are comfortable with a highly mobile professional lifestyle, while others need a physical environment to reconnect with themselves, their colleagues and their organization.

Our bodies constantly interact with the physical world through our senses. Smells, spatial perception, geography, temperature, air quality and physical contact all contribute to our experience of reality.

We are not simply minds exchanging emails from a virtual space. We need to remain physically connected to our environment and to other people.

The Limits of Remote Work

The article does not reject remote work, but questions what happens when teleworking becomes excessive.

For some employees, the comfort of working remotely can gradually encourage isolation and weaken their sense of place within society and the organization. The humorous image of a “tele-laundry day”—turning off the camera during a video meeting to start a washing machine—is deliberately familiar and illustrates how easily professional and personal spaces can merge.

Rebuilding Human Interaction at Work

The real challenge may therefore be finding the right balance between flexibility and human interaction in the workplace.

Employees need opportunities to meet colleagues, share physical spaces and experience their organization beyond screens and digital communication.

The risk is that excessive remote work may create a form of professional isolation: people remain connected technologically while becoming increasingly disconnected physically.

For managers and HR leaders, the question is therefore not simply whether remote work is efficient. It is also whether the organization provides enough opportunities for employees to feel connected, grounded and part of a collective.

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Key takeaways

• Physical presence can strengthen employees’ sense of belonging and reconnect them with their organization.
• Human beings experience work physically through their senses, environment and interactions with others.
• Remote work offers comfort and flexibility, but excessive isolation may weaken organizational connection.
• Employees have different needs regarding mobility, remote work and physical interaction with colleagues.
• Future management must balance digital flexibility with meaningful human interaction and physical presence.

5 questions every manager should keep in mind:

• How much remote work affect employee belonging?
• How to maintain human connection in remote teams?
• How can managers strengthen employee engagement?
• How should I balance remote work and office presence?
• What is the impact of remote work on workplace relationship?

This summary was generated using artificial intelligence by Laurent Boghossian himself, then updated and reviewed by Laurent Boghossian himself, based on audio recordings made by Laurent Boghossian himself.

“Artificial intelligence at the service of humanity. Not the other way around.“