Work from home is killing your career?

Working from home is killing your career. Ok, this subject line alone could get me a few unsubscribes. I know, I sound like an old micromanaging male CEO who thinks office = productivity. I swear, I’m not that guy!

Yes, I’m a business owner. Yes, I’m a guy, and I’m very conscious it’s easy for me to have this opinion. But hear me out.

I understand this isn’t a black-and-white question. WFH is legit. I 100% get the appeal of it. It’s more flexible, cost efficient, and for a lot of us, especially women, neurodivergent folks, and people with disabilities, it’s more accessible.

Having said that, if you’re early in your career, and I mean in those first 1 to 3 years, you should want to go into the office as much as you can.

Before I get into why, let me give you a quick look at how my own career has moved between on-site, hybrid, and remote work.

My first job out of uni was in 2018 with the Noetic Group. It wasn’t the glamorous consulting life you see on LinkedIn. No international travel, no five-star hotels, no client calls from airport lounges. Just a full-time, fully-on-site role in Canberra, supporting Principal Directors and Senior Consultants as we delivered projects for Federal Government clients.

Since then, I’ve worked fully remote, hybrid, and now with Grad Careers I go into the office 3–4 days a week. I’ve done the full WFH-to-office circle.

As I reflect on every experience across my early career, there are 3.5 real reasons why being in the room made all the difference for me.

Reason 1: It’s just… harder for people to say no to you in person

Let me take you back to my consulting days.

When you’re working onsite, and you want to get staffed on a new project, or you want to chat about personal development or feedback, you can literally just walk over and ask.

You can hang back after a team meeting, casually bring something up over coffee, or catch someone just before they leave for the day.

And because you’re physically there, and they can see the effort you're putting in, it becomes a lot harder for them to brush you off with a generic “we’ll circle back.”

I’ve been put on projects just because I was around, asking questions, offering help, and reminding people I existed.

I’ve tried doing that over email and Teams in my remote roles, where I was just one unread message away from being forgotten. Well, it’s a lot harder to chase a “quick chat” with your manager when your calendar invites keep getting snoozed like a 7am alarm.

Reason 2: You get to learn how the business works

At Noetic, I wasn’t just learning how to be a consultant. I was learning how the entire company operated.

I’d overhear the Design Thinking team workshopping client problems with sticky notes and frameworks. I’d see how Policy Analysts structured their reports, and the biggest eye opener, how Principal Consultants chased down new work. I learned how we actually won business from writing proposals to pitching during tenders.

Seeing how much effort went into relationship building, and how much strategy went into those seemingly boring Word docs is something that none of my other roles have taught me.

That’s because this is the stuff no one is meant to teach you. You just absorb it by being around.

Reason 3: Most companies are built to grow remotely… but not to make you grow remotely

I 100% stand by this. Most companies today have the tools to deliver work remotely: Slack, Teams, Zoom, Asana, Notion, the whole gang.

But delivering work ≠ developing talent. Just because your company can ship a product or finish a project with a fully remote team doesn’t mean it knows how to grow you, especially if you’re early in your career.

Bigger names like Microsoft, Atlassian, and Amazon do have fancy onboarding programs, structured mentorship, and internal wikis that explain everything from acronyms to how to request feedback. But those small and medium businesses don’t. Not even close.

These are the kinds of places where:

• You might join with no formal induction

• Your manager barely has time for a weekly one-on-one

• And the only feedback you might get is a thumbs up on your Google Doc

In their defence, it’s not because they don’t care. It’s because they’re still figuring it out.

They’ve invested in systems to get work done remotely. They haven’t yet invested in systems to grow people remotely. That’s the key difference.

Ok, this brings me to the last reason and I’m sure if I haven’t managed to convince you yet, this will be that final nail in the coffin.

Reason 3.5: WFH can do for you what Tinder couldn’t…. find you a spouse.

I know my audience… I know some of you are getting daily WhatsApp pings from your parents, featuring a LinkedIn profile pic, full star sign analysis, and a “just talk to him once, na?” vibe.

Meanwhile, you’re on Bumble trying to find someone who actually wants a serious relationship. Let me drop a stat bomb on you:

43% of workplace romances lead to marriage.

That’s a better success rate than most dating apps, and definitely better than the last guy your mum’s friend’s neighbour’s cousin recommended.

Sure, 40% of those workplace flings also involve cheating… But hey, at least people are meeting.

Ok, I think we should ignore this reason.

Final thoughts

Look, I know the research, work can be done remotely and just as productively. In many ways, remote work has made jobs more accessible for people who were unfairly excluded for decades.

But this isn’t about everyone. This is for you, especially if you’re in the early stages of your career, and if career advancement, growth, and learning are your top priority.

From what I’ve seen (and lived), being physically present with senior decision makers is just so bloody advantageous.

So if you can? Show up. Be in the room. It’ll pay off.