In my experience “collaboration” means talking about basically anything except work. How some idiot on the executive floor got the idea that we all just walk around spontaneously gabbing about ways to make them more money is beyond me. Much of the corporate world is dedicated to mindless churn and professional time wasting.

The more an organization pushes the whole “in office”, “collaboration”, “water cooler conversations” narrative, the more professional time wasters they have on their payroll. When the only metrics you have are butts in seats, you can’t see how little work you’re actually getting for your money.