A whopping 88% of Dropbox employees said they preferred the flexibility to work remotely, according to a 2020 employee survey. So far, most employees seem to be happy with the change-even if it means losing all the free food and yoga lessons.

In late spring, for example, when CEO Houston was visiting New York, he hosted a Happy Hour for New York City employees on the rooftop deck of a chi-chi New York City restaurant where more than 100 employees gathered-many meeting each other for the first time. So the company created Dropbox Neighborhood which gives workers positive incentives to gather. Virtual work also requires inventive ways to encourage employees to meet up in person-particularly to meet other Dropbox employees who aren’t even on their teams.

The other four hours are for working on personal projects or sometimes attending to personal needs. That’s also when virtual group meetings are held. That’s why Dropbox developed “core collaboration hours” which requires members of each team to be at their computers-and available to communicate with all other team members-for a four-hour block each day. Some things about the new virtual office at Dropbox required extra planning-like how to make certain that teams can regularly communicate with each other at the same time every day. “We’re giving our teams the flexibility to work from anywhere without being tied to the office.” “We’re trying to get the best of both worlds,” says Houston.

Houston also plans to develop more opportunities for offsite meetings. In-person interaction, which Houston considers critical, will now be only occasional and take place in the newly designed Dropbox Studios, a state-of-the-art gathering place. That’s forced companies like Dropbox to create some new basic guidelines. The new rule might feel, taste, and smell to most employees as if there are no rules.

The unwritten rule that once required butts firmly placed in office chairs is out the window.

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