“We are three and a half years in, and we’re totally stuck,” Bloom said of remote work. “It would take something as extreme as the pandemic to unstick it.”
Paid work-from-home days have sat at about 28% all year, four times the 7% pre-pandemic level. Office swipe-ins in the 10 biggest metros flatlined at around 50%. Workers value a home day like an 8% raise, and productivity hasn’t suffered. The CEOs still issuing return mandates are fighting their own lease payments, not their staff.