Dibsido: What are the first things you notice and the red flags you watch for when stepping into a company's office?

Nika: First impressions really shape how we perceive a company’s culture and atmosphere. 

You can learn a lot just by noticing how you're welcomed, where they seat you, whether they offer you water or brush you off, whether the space feels welcoming, or whether it feels like you’re not supposed to be there at all. Sometimes you’ll spot confidential info on a whiteboard or maybe sensitive slides playing on a screen. 

All of these are little details that most visitors might overlook, but they paint a clear picture for me.

It’s also really important to pay attention to how people interact. I like to arrive early for meetings so I can observe how the office works. Are people relaxed? Do they greet each other, chat, or do they avoid eye contact and stay in their own bubbles?

"Even if I’m technically there to assess the space, how people communicate tells me the most about the office atmosphere. It shows me whether the team is functioning well, if they’re happy, or if something’s off.”

From offices to living rooms and back again: How hybrid work has changed office team dynamics

Dibsido: How has hybrid work impacted the role of office managers?

Nika: That is a topic that really came into focus during COVID. With everyone suddenly working from home, companies started questioning whether they even needed office managers when the office was empty.

But instead of facing layoffs, office managers’ daily tasks shifted completely back then. Practically overnight, they began managing relocations to employees’ homes, handling internet access, ergonomic furniture, monitors, equipment... Logistics and coordination became the core of their role.

Today, clear communication is one of the most critical aspects of hybrid work. Office teams, together with company leadership, have to clearly explain why hybrid is being introduced. Is it a benefit to attract talent? A way to boost productivity? Or a cost-cutting measure?

“One of the most common mistakes is when companies promise flexibility but then demand people return to the office just because it feels empty. That doesn’t work. First, ask whether physical presence really affects company results. If it doesn’t, then find a meaningful, not forced, way to integrate office work.”

Dibsido: How should a company announce a shift from remote to hybrid work?

Nika: That’s always tough. Once people get used to freedom, taking it away is like cutting their salary—not exactly a popular move. But how and why you communicate it makes a big difference. If you say: “Our team is falling apart, things are slow, and we need to change that,” and set a clear structure like meeting in person every other week with leadership, and making it something you work on together, it becomes a completely different story.

The worst thing is when management imposes a return to the office and then continues to work remotely themselves.

With hybrid, it’s not about deciding whether it’s two or three days in the office. What matters is flexibility. For example: “Here are five in-person meetings we really need because they involve the full team and let us solve things faster than online.” Let people then choose whether to stay in the office after that or not.

The trend is clear: People don’t want to spend long hours in the office anymore. They’re not interested in staying late, playing table football, or using an in-office gym. That era is over.

What matters is the ability to adapt their schedule, to family, personal life, and their own pace. If you force them, they’ll be frustrated, and they still won’t be more productive.

Dibsido: You mentioned that benefits like foosball tables and PlayStations aren’t as appealing anymore. So what do employees want, besides flexibility?

Nika: There’s no universal benefits checklist, every company needs something different.

Startups, for example, where retaining people is critical, often invest heavily in the office experience: food, entertainment, beer. 

More sustainable companies tend to focus on well-being, flexibility, giving employees more freedom to manage their schedule, mental health support, and health benefits.

But you can’t just swap one set of perks for another across companies. Benefits have to match the culture and leadership. It’s like putting together a puzzle.

The main reasons why office managers leave

Dibsido: Office managers are known for having broad, overloaded agendas. How can leadership support them so they avoid burnout and stay in the role long term?

Nika: We talk about this a lot in the Krotitelé kanclů community. My #1 recommendation is: Don’t turn your office team into octopuses.

That means no “office/HR/marketing/IT” all rolled into one. Sure, in a small team, it can work for a while, but only if there’s a senior person overseeing things and stepping in before it gets overwhelming. Usually, when some task doesn’t have a clear owner, it gets dumped on the office manager. And they can handle it, but only up to a point.

“Over time, the tasks pile up, they get more complex, and suddenly one person is doing the work of three. That’s not sustainable. Then they quit. And it’s only when the company finally sits down to figure out what the role actually involves that they realize they were asking for someone who doesn’t even exist. Often, it takes two or three new people to replace them.”

Dibsido: What advice would you give to companies hiring an office manager?

Nika: Companies need to be very clear about what they’re looking for. There are basically two directions:

Either you need someone for administrative support—spreadsheets, budgets, reporting—which leans more toward an assistant role.

Or you’re looking for someone focused on people care, making sure employees have everything they need for productive work, that their laptop or desk suits them. But if that’s what you want, you have to give that person the authority to actually change things.

So step one, 100%, is to decide which direction you’re hiring for. That’s the foundation for writing a job ad that tells candidates exactly what to expect. And it helps avoid the “fifth office manager in two years” scenario because the company couldn’t clearly define or describe the role in the beginning of the hiring process.

Micromanagement or total indifference: Two sides of the same coin

Dibsido: What do companies typically struggle with when setting up office operations?

Nika: Communication, hands down.

What often happens is that managers and teams don’t align on expectations, or don’t even set them in the first place.

Office managers tend to be detail-oriented and want to do things perfectly. But then they find themselves spending time and energy on tasks that their leadership doesn’t actually value or need. Meanwhile, the things the leadership does care about go untouched.

That leads to frustration on both sides. Everyone’s chasing their own priorities, but no one’s aligned.

The office environment is fast-paced and dynamic, with constant operational issues and everyone rushing from one task to the next. People forget to pause and reflect. To ask themselves: “Are we working well together? Do we understand each other? Do we know what our shared goal is?”

If this kind of reflection doesn’t happen, a disconnect starts to grow between the manager and the team. Office managers burn out, and when communication with their supervisor breaks down, they feel like they have no one to talk to, and eventually leave… and then the company has to start over, hiring and onboarding someone new. That costs both time and money.

Dibsido: Are companies able to admit that something isn’t working, or do they need an outsider to point it out?

Nika: Often, it’s enough to get a fresh perspective from someone in another department—someone who has enough distance to see things clearly and say, “Hey, this is just a case of miscommunication and poor information handover.”

But in many cases, everyone is so caught up in the details that they lose sight of the big picture. One side claims the office manager isn’t doing a good job; the other says it’s the boss’s fault. And that’s when the extremes appear: either micromanagement or total disengagement. Both are unsustainable. That’s when external help becomes necessary.