Who Is Kidding Whom?

Who Is Kidding Whom?

Jim Gardner, Managing Editor of the San Francisco Business Times summed up the controversy over whether employees will be working in the office or working remotely. In his editorial titled “Back to the Office: Who’s Kidding Who?” Jim cited several surveys, and the bottom line appears to be, employers overwhelmingly want the employees back in the office five days a week if possible, while employees want to either not come in at all or at most work hybrid between home and office. We are seeing major organizations mandate a variety of work modes. The Federal government may be leaning towards having folks back in the office, Bank of America totally wants them back in, while I have teen a number of tech firms offer total remote, one yesterday said the worker needs to be in a state where they have an office but only has to come in once a year…no consensus whatsoever!  What we will be witnessing over the next few years will be a workforce experiment. Different company cultures, different management styles, and different types of employees will determine what works and what doesn’t. Right now with unemployment low employees have a lot of leverage, but if we slip into a recession, as many are now suggesting, the advantage may shift back to the employer. One thing is for sure-there is at this point no right or wrong answer…