Amazon became the latest corporate behemoth to say "so long" to the remote-working days of the pandemic.
The company told corporate employees they'll be expected to work in-office five days a week, barring extenuating circumstances, starting in January.
"All these large firms spend a lot of money on office space," said Patrick Gourley, economics professor at The University of New Haven. "They want to get some use out of it."
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in an open letter to employees that with in-office work, "collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and teams tend to be better connected to one another."
In August, the career coaching platform Resume Builder said 87% of companies that went remote in the pandemic will be back in-office by 2025. Of the 764 companies they surveyed, just 6% have no plans to return workers to the office.
It sets up a fight between employers and some of their workers.
"Around Labor Day at Bankrate, we conducted a survey of workers and about 4 in 10 said that they were going to ask their employers for increased workplace flexibility over the coming year," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.
Company leaders told Resume Builder the biggest impact of in-office work were on employee relationships, culture and productivity.
"I think especially for workers that are earlier in their careers, you need mentors, you need people who are going to not only teach you the kind of skills of the job but also just how to play office politics," Gourley said.
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But it doesn't mean the workforce is snapping back to 2019.
"Some [remote work] will stick around," Gourley added. "When you look at the world in 2019 compared to today, there are entire companies now — startups that are remote."
Gourley thinks the last vestiges of pandemic-inspired remote work may be snuffed out, to some degree, if the economy takes a downturn.
"I think the big test will be the next recession," he said. "Workers to date have had some leverage just to be like 'no' or at least kind of, I don't want to say, 'quiet quit' but kind of quietly push back and continue to work from home. As soon as layoffs start happening I think that's the end."
The end of a remote work era that realized the possibilities of a coffee shop and a laptop, but ultimately solidified the value of an office.
