The great office return

As the world grapples with the future of work, major corporations like Amazon, THG, and Salesforce are making bold moves to bring employees back to the office full-time. Is this a step towards greater collaboration and innovation, or a costly return to outdated practices?

Amazon is the latest business in the UK requesting that employees return to the office full-time. This follows the likes of THG, Salesforce, Boots, Boeing, JP Morgan Chase, and UPS—some high-profile names.

Looking at various industry pieces, I’ve not yet found a consistent narrative for why these companies are reverting to a full-time office policy. My suspicious brain suggests it’s about cost, accountability, and visibility—you must be seen to be heard, and office space costs money. However, another part of me wants to believe that businesses can adapt to new situations.

Balancing this approach, I’ve gathered the top pros and cons from both a business and employee perspective (these are not my personal opinions):

Business Perspective:

Pros: Enhances collaboration, strengthens company culture, and improves productivity and accountability.

Cons: Increases costs, faces employee resistance, and has health and environmental concerns.

Employee Perspective:

Pros: Offers better work-life separation, social interaction, and access to resources that home working cannot provide.

Cons: Remote work provides flexibility, reduces commute stress, and saves costs.

To give you my position on this, I believe in the hybrid approach, however in saying this, not a fixed hybrid approach where it’s exactly 2 or 3 days, I believe that flexibility is required where business demands require.

What are your thoughts on the pros and cons? Will we see a boomerang effect back to hybrid from full-time office working?