Since the pandemic, models of work have been an important consideration for employers and employees all around the world. The requirement for in-office presence was removed for many, bursting the long-lasting balloon of belief that coming into a group workspace is necessary for success.

However, as the dust settles and pandemic restrictions become a thing of memory, the work-from-home model is losing its lustre for some. Is there remote working really the 'new normal' or did we actually get the business of getting business done right pre-pandemic?

We spoke with Playstudios CEO Andrew Pascal to discuss how the award-winning mobile games company is encouraging a return to work, and the reasons why.

PocketGamer.biz: Tell us some backstory. To what extent did Playstudios go WFH (work from home) during the pandemic?

Andrew Pascal: At the onset of the pandemic, we went completely to remote work to protect the health and safety of our employees. As the pandemic receded, we shifted to a hybrid model in our studios around the world.

Today, our studios outside of the US are about 80% in-person, while our domestic studios are about 20% in-person, though that will begin to change in the fall.

The work-from-home model has maintained much support and popularity since the lockdowns. In which ways does Playstudios believe in-person working is superior?

There’s no doubt in my mind that in-person collaboration is vital to any organisation, but even more so to a creative company like ours. There is simply nothing that compares to what comes from creative people working together to generate new ideas, solve problems and conceive of new and innovative approaches to crafting our content.

With working from home being the preferred model of many employees across the industry, how does Playstudios encourage its employees to come into the office?

I believe our team knows that there are times when getting together is more impactful and productive than working from home. So, our Division and Studio leaders concentrate our company communication, creative workshops, employee development, and strategic work sessions into carefully crafted in-office days.

In addition to the structured workshops, we host lunches and employee events, creating more opportunities for our teams to connect both formally and informally. It’s also worth noting that we’re just now completing a significant reconfiguration and renovation of our workspace.

These changes are in response to the new work patterns that have emerged since the pandemic and prioritise office designs that best support creativity and innovative workflow.

While respecting the safety of all of our employees, we believe our teams understand the needs of the company to move forward in creative and collaborative ways. Naturally, this includes more time together in our domestic studios. I don’t necessarily anticipate everyone in the office every day, but I do expect that more of us will be in the office, working together, more of the time.

We have a culture of collaboration and mutual support at Playstudios, and that happens best when people are together.

Would you advise other mobile gaming companies to draw their employees back to the office? If so, should they follow a similar method to yours?

Every company has to honour who they are and optimise their working conditions to suit their needs. With that said, there seems to be a lot of movement toward returning to in-person work. Companies, particularly those that may have had to reduce staff over the last 18 months, are seeing that remote work simply isn’t as productive, as efficient or as impactful as working together.

The pandemic is over. There was much to learn from it, for sure. But being together translates to deeper levels of engagement and satisfaction, which in turn translates to more inspired ideas and solutions.

Connecting remotely tends to be too structured and highly transactional, limiting the more organic and spontaneous connections that drive our business. It’s invigorating to be around people with different ideas and unique insights.

From Tel Aviv to San Francisco, Playstudios has offices all over the world. If at all, how much does your approach to re-engaging employees differ by location?

Our global studios returned to work more quickly than our domestic studios. And in the US, tech companies in particular, as well as New York and California-based companies, have also returned to work more slowly. But that trend is changing now, too. Recently, I read that Zoom, the company that more or less made remote work as feasible as it is, has told their employees to return to work 2 or 3 days per week.

My executive team and I firmly believe that we need more of the great energy and collaborative creativity that having people in the office regularly creates. I’m looking forward to it.