With the latest wave of delays in returning to the Covid-19 office, some companies are raising a new possibility: the offices may be closed for almost two years.
This raises concerns among executives that the longer they stay at home, the harder or more damaging it may be for them to finally recover.
Many employees developed new routines during the pandemic, changing shifts to exercise or blocking hours to work without interruptions. Even staff members who once struggled to do their work outside of an office have come to embrace the flexibility and productivity of home life over the past 18 months, many say. Surveys have shown that enthusiasm for remote work has only increased as the pandemic has spread.
“If you have a little blip, people go back to the old way. Well, that’s not a mistake, “said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel Corp., whose company has benefited from the work-from-home boom. He predicts that hybrid, remote work will continue to be the norm over the next few months and years. “There is no going back.”
Return dates have been repeatedly postponed. Thursday, Apple Inc. he told corporate employees that his planned return to U.S. offices would be delayed at least until January. Companies like Chevron Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. have postponed September returns, while tech companies like Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. they have pushed them early next year. Lyft Inc. he said he would call employees back at San Francisco headquarters in February, about 23 months after the shared travel company closed its offices for the first time.