Why the Return to the Office Is Inevitable

For proponents of a return to working in the office, it’s two steps forward and one step back. The haze of Canadian smoke that hung over New York City and other parts of the East Coast this week gave people a reason to stay inside. Some schools shuttered their doors. People on the streets have been wearing masks. Yes, it has felt a bit like 2020. But no one should rush to buy Zoom Video stock. Unlike the pandemic, the fires won’t last. And the march back to the office is showing every sign of being unstoppable.

Just this week, Google toughened its in-office policies by telling employees it will consider their office attendance in personnel reviews, The Wall Street Journal reported. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms—which last week called employees back to the office three days a week—today held its first in-person all-hands meeting since 2020. The rhetoric from advocates of in-office work, including prominent businesspeople, is intensifying. Martha Stewart, who knows a thing or two about building a business, declared in an interview with Footwearnews.com that “you can’t possibly get everything done working three days a week in the office and two days remotely.” Then there was yesterday’s New York Times report about two entrepreneurs who had left San Francisco during the pandemic for the wilds of Oregon but are now moving back to the Bay Area, feeling that they’re missing out on networking and other in-person meetups.