Since COVID-19 vaccines have become widely available and restrictions have been lifted in many parts of the world, some employers have faced resistance over their return-to-office plans. Pitting remote work versus working in offices, the media’s framing of business-sector discussions continues to miss the mark by reducing workplace dynamics and return-to-office deadlines to a binary debate.
What we are witnessing is the culmination of something that has been building up for many years. The past 18 months have fast-tracked this decades-long trend that most businesses were unaware they were creating: an exodus from the office.
Back in 1985, a Harvard Business Review article created the template of what was to come with trends in office design: activity-based workplaces. This idea played out in the 1990s with more flexible workspaces — furniture for individual privacy and tables on wheels — to conform to team and individual needs. Over time, these individual personalized workspaces have evolved into fully open tables and benches with on-demand reservation systems. Absent individual offices, spaces intended for meetings have been in demand by people seeking moments of individual privacy rather than collaboration.
The fact is, long before the pandemic struck, many office environments were becoming increasingly harder to navigate due to higher densities, smaller workspaces, more noise, and less space per person. In fall 2019, respondents to the annual Gensler U.S. Workplace Survey reported dissatisfaction and frustration with typical office settings, a shift that had been amplifying for several years.