So when this work at home doesn’t last will the workers return to the office to find several derelicts lying on the floor smoking cigarettes and drinking cheap booze? And it will be against the law to evict them? Work will be like an urban subway or bus ride.
There used to be (may still be) a federal law that an employer may not fire an employee for drunkeness at work or being unable to communicate due to narcotics. Reason: If the person was getting some kind of counseling or treatment then the firing would impede their recovery. So stay on the job.
The fact of it is that some jobs can be done from home. Perhaps even better without some tyrannical and unqualified douche manager hovering over them all day.
Friend of ours says that at least in his place that upper management hated the work from home concept until it was forced on them.
Then they discovered that there were far fewer:
1. Sexual harassment complaints
2. Hostile workplace complaints
3. Discrimination lawsuits
4. Workman’s comp claims and lawsuits
5. Sick days
And on the blush they’re putting more profit in the bank. In 2025 their lease runs out and they’re cutting a 180,000sf office down to 20,000sf for admin and execs and a small “hoteling” space for staff who need to be in the office for a day or so.
That’s going to save them fifteen million on rent the first year.
And that’s the ultimate driver here is money. If businesses can thrive and save money then why not embrace the new paradigm?
For others if it doesn’t work then don’t do it.
Still more will embrace a hybrid workplace where some people are in the office and some people are not.
In any case, things just changed and they changed in the space of a few days.