Will everyone finally go back to the office?

Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon has long been very critical of teleworking, calling this pandemic-related development an “aberration”. This week he ended that practice, removing the majority of the bank’s latest covid restrictions for US employees, in a bid to get most of them back in the office.

For more than two years, companies around the world have embraced remote working and a hybrid office-home organizational mode as infections surged and death tolls rose.

But as summer draws to a close in North America and Europe, some of the biggest companies are making a concerted effort to get people back to the office. These range from electric car maker Tesla, whose boss Elon Musk has asked employees to return to their desks 40 hours a week, to tech giant Apple and fitness company Peloton, both of which are pushing for employees return to work at least three days a week.

This is not the first time that large companies have tried to reverse the trend of teleworking. In the fall of 2021, and even into 2020, some drew up plans to begin a broad return to their grim office buildings, but new waves of infections made leaders keen to avoid a confrontation with staff at an extremely critical moment.

This year it’s different. With people generally less fearful of the spread of the virus, many bosses believe conditions are now as close as possible […]

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