Many companies are calling workers back to the office. Even Zoom, the pillar of working remotely, has told employees to return to the office at least 2 days a week. So, is work from home (or a third place – not the office but not your home) going the way of the dinosaur? A nice pandemic shooting star??
We here at T2B, do not think US companies are going to pull the plug completely on work from home/third place. The younger generations in the workforce have fully embraced not being tied to the office. Most employees love the ability to work from home, avoid commuting, the ability to dress down, and/or eat a home cooked lunch. The work from home proverbial cat is out of the bag and will never fully be put back in. However, companies have also learned that a completely remote workforce does not have the same productivity and creativity of a workforce sharing space.
Workers will be allowed some work from home/third place time and be in the office the majority of their workdays. However, we feel that the office itself will change and incorporate some of the feeling of offsite work. A larger portion of the office will be dedicated to collaborative areas with these spaces separated by private, quiet, heads down type workspaces.
The pandemic has changed the office for sure but it has not killed it.