FWIW, as a hiring manager, our stance on remote is one of the first questions I get asked. BUT, I hear roughly equal numbers of people who want Full-Office as who want Full-Remote.
In other words the flow is not only from in-person work to WFH, but rather people are flowing both ways and sorting into whichever lifestyle they prefer.
I think thats actually the endgame here: long-term all companies are going to have to pick Office/Hybrid/Remote as one of their core values and selling points, and there will be almost 3 distinct labor pools for each type based on what sort of work style a candidate wants.
I am fully in support for full-remote work as a policy, as I view WFH as right or at least an advancement that has been needlessly deprived from many white collar professions for a long time.
That said, I personally would not mind some in-office work, even only one day or two days a week, or even alternating in-person weeks. WFH feels incredibly isolating at times.
I think the unique and extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic have been incredibly limiting, leading people to feel trapped. Hence it’s obvious why people rebel against being in-office, but also explains why the people who didn’t mind working in person now bristle against full-remote. Zoom fatigue and the isolation of full digital existence also contributes towards the demand for full-office.
It will be interesting to see how this changes after the pandemic, when more freedom and flexibility hopefully returns to the workplace.
Not sure how it is today, but I felt DigitalOcean had the right mix pre-pandemic: 50% onsite and 50% remote. We could choose which we wanted as time went, and remotes could fly in and work from the office about once per quarter. This allowed me to be remote while also developing in-person relationships with a lot of employees, as there were always some people in the office (revolving remotes and regular onsites). It was the best of both world!
In other words the flow is not only from in-person work to WFH, but rather people are flowing both ways and sorting into whichever lifestyle they prefer.
I think thats actually the endgame here: long-term all companies are going to have to pick Office/Hybrid/Remote as one of their core values and selling points, and there will be almost 3 distinct labor pools for each type based on what sort of work style a candidate wants.