With the omicron surge subsiding, many business leaders are again planning to urge — and even demand — that their employees return to their pre-pandemic offices. It’s understandable: U.S. businesses are paying for countless thousands of square feet of expensive office space across the country, much of which is now vacant.
But they’d be wise not to rush the office return. Most people who worked in offices prior to the pandemic are conflicted right now. They miss their colleagues and the amenities available “at work” — the coffee bar, access to high-speed copying machines and knowledgeable IT trouble-shooters — but they don’t miss the commute and they’re loving the freedom and flexibility remote and asynchronous work offers them.
That’s why business leaders should pay close attention to the recently released Winter 2021-22 Future Forum Pulse survey, part of a series the consortium has been conducting quarterly since June 2020.
