The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world of work on its head, transforming the possibilities for remote work and prompting business leaders to rethink the workplace. With a growing number of people in the U.S. and abroad already vaccinated, companies announced their “back-to-office” plans earlier this summer, outlining how and when their employees will return to work in-person.
The back-to-office shift offers key insights into which of the work changes adopted during the pandemic will become permanent. For some top tech and financial companies, this means introducing new policies on remote work and making careful decisions about office capacity and the company’s HR needs.
As 2020 saw an exit of some workers from financial and tech hubs, corporate occupiers have reassessed their real estate needs and, in some cases, closed offices. For example, a recent report by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield found that San Francisco office vacancy hit 16.7 percent in last December, an increase of 11 percent from the year before. Now, as companies roll out their back-to-office policies, these decisions will have major implications for their office designs and real estate plans.
Though primarily aimed at addressing health and safety concerns, recently announced return-to-work policies provide a window into the decision-making and visions of C-suite leadership for the post-COVID-19 workplace.
The following gallery takes a look at how 11 major companies are approaching the issue.
This gallery was originally published on July 13, 2021, and outlined the featured companies' office plans and policies at that time. The emergence of the Delta variant has shifted many of those firms' timelines. The gallery was updated on August 18, 2021, with details on companies' new return dates as well as vaccine mandates announced by some of the firms.