On fast-food work cultures

Despite its many benefits, remote work will lead to the fast-food-ification of company culture where the experience of being on a team begins to look the same no matter where you work…bland, unremarkable, and homogenized through video call technology and arms-length relationships. If you’re in the business of ingesting calories, fast food gets the job done. But if you’re looking to understand the origins of your food, build connection with others in a warm ambiance, or slowly taste a dish’s complex flavor profile, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Vibrant, unique organizational cultures don’t happen by accident. Like a restaurant making intentional choices about space, food, and service, companies operating in a remote world need to consider the ways their culture is distinctive and proactively ensure this DNA isn’t lost over screens and across time zones.