The pandemic is here for at least 1-2 years in that time many businesses will have perfected WFH/remotely where possible. So I don't think they will go back to previous way of doing things that easily. Another thing is this pandemic also has shown the risk factor of having most of your workforce in one place/city. So even if businesses don't do wfh they would probably go for more satellite offices in smaller cities.

1-2 years lol

Why are you laughing? I'm crying.

It's a reasonable lower bound - and they did specify "at least"

minimum

I’d be willing to bet this breaks down more along partisan lines.

Blue, urban centers will allow WFH for white collar employees, but big corporate places in red and purple states will force people back into the office, even if more get sick and die. This is how the reopenings are already playing out across the country.

> Once the pandemic ends and employers stop allowing WFH again

We don't know how many companies will require on-site presence.

Some might just allow WFH permanently.

E.g. Twitter already announced that, see: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/may/12/twitter-c... .

> Some might just allow WFH permanently.

We've seen this before with companies that created satellite campuses to take advantage of cheaper labor due to cost of living differences.

When problems arise, only those local to the headquarters survive the layoffs.

Then move. Plenty of remote IT jobs available in Mumbai. Work from home is amazing!

Perhaps. Although the sense I get is that a lot more WFH/remote (admittedly not the same thing) is going to be the new normal at a lot of tech companies.

Many companies are announcing it but I don't see a large trend of announcements yet. There will be a growing niche, and maybe the large wave is yet to come, but for now, we haven't reached that state yet you describe.

No. I expect it to be more organic and under the radar. Some percentage of employers and some percentage of employees at those employers. And now you come into the office and only a third of your team is in there on a given day and, at some point, you're "Hey. Is it really worth commuting in for the snacks." And maybe you decide to all come in on a given day. But a couple people move a few hours away...

My point is that norms can shift without big company announcements so long as companies don't actively prevent them.

I do think this is going to become a big deal for people as they consider current and future jobs. It's probably also going to be a big issue for onboarding junior people.

remote work has a self-reinforcing dynamic. the office is not as attractive when half the employees are not around. people get spoiled by having so much more control of their time. Plus the pandemic is dragging too long already and we are still nowhere near next winter's wave.