With many offices having shifted to work-from-home thanks to the pandemic, is the concept of driving in to work in the morning dead?
UW-Madison business professor Hart Posen says it depends entirely on the type of business you’re working in.Â
“Some firms will demand that their people come into the office, but I think others will see it as ‘there are benefits to having people in the office’! People talking to one another, coming up with ideas.”
Posen says that some businesses may have to make a case to new hires and current employees as to how safe they will be, as well as showing why having a physical space would be cost effective.
“And I think for firms, this has lead to this question of ‘how can we make this make it worthwhile to be at the office?’ Why do we do what we do, except for the past year as everyone has gone to the office.”
Posen says that some businesses that have already gotten rid of physical office spaces during the pandemic might find it useful to bring them back, but that a hybrid model of days at home and days at the office will spring up as well.