Kim Rader What could we get from working in person?
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What Could We Get From Working In Person? [Greeting] Over the past year, we have been inundated with predictions for the future of work. “Hybrid talk” is everywhere, but the reality of hybrid work is beginning to look like a compromise that makes no one happy. Even before the pandemic, 76% of Americans said they were dissatisfied with their office plan. Employees coped with noisy open-plan layouts, poor lighting, and lack of personalization in their workspaces. In 2017—three years before COVID-19 forced droves of workers out of the office—the former U.S. Surgeon General called attention to a “loneliness epidemic” in the workplace, and Gallup reported that 85% of employees were not engaged at work. Now, roughly 50% of leaders say their company already requires, or will require, employees to return to in-person work full-time in 2023. In a world where many employees have the tools they need to work from home, why should they return to offices where pre-pandemic problems remain unresolved? Post-pandemic behavior underscores the idea that the office leaves something to be desired. People are going out again… but not to the office. We are dining in restaurants, attending sporting events, dancing at crowded concerts, and flying on airplanes at exponential rates. But most are still steering clear of the office, pointing to a problem that is bigger than COVID-19.
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