The CEO of a software company chimed in on the hot debate around remote work saying that while the practice benefits individuals, it hinders teamwork. 

Jake Wood – founder and CEO of corporate philanthropy business Groundswell – shared his thoughts in a LinkedIn post that was reported by Fortune. Wood pointed out that remote work especially harms junior employees and new hires. 

"I can understand the employee's perspective, but I think it's lacking something critical: it's not just about you," he wrote. "What do I mean by that? "YOU" might be able to execute your work on time and to standard in a remote environment. But what about your colleagues? Absent your presence, leadership, mentorship – can they thrive?" 

He added: "Top performers raise the performance of those around them. This is severely degraded when those top performers (who are most capable of thriving WFH) are working from home. This renders much of the rest of the org operating in an inefficient capacity. New hires onboard more slowly. Junior employees don't grow professionally." 

Groundswell is a fully in-person company and Wood told Fortune that this has paid off in the productivity department. 

"I think you lift others best when you're in-person and people are able to soak up your mentorship, your leadership, and your talents and reflect them in their own work life," he told Fortune. 

He clarified that not all employees feel "this sense of dedication or selflessness and sacrifice for their employer," but an important part of every job is "lifting up the productivity and capabilities of those around you."

Major companies including Google, Meta, and Salesforce are reversing remote work policies that were introduced during the pandemic and ordering staff back to the office to boost productivity and collaboration. 

Meta's push toward office work is partly for the benefit of its junior employees. Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in March that early-career engineers who worked in-person "with teammates at least three days a week," performed better than those who worked remotely, for example.