回到办公室:新的推动

Labor Day is the traditional end-of-summer US holiday that normally sees many workers returning to the office, rested and primed to work together on new projects for the fall. 现在的问题是:这是否意味着 字面上的 回到办公室?

In moves that haven’t attracted a lot of attention, some heavy-hitting firms in a wide range of sectors, 从金融到石油, are beginning to reopen offices and encourage at least some of their workforce back. Experts say the recalls—which run counter to some other companies that decided to keep workers home well into next year—are largely at the experimental but potentially clashing stage.

“这件事有很多方面，”他说 安东尼LoPinto他是最新太阳城官网(最新太阳城官网 's)全球行业负责人 房地产 实践. “有些公司可能会重新招人, but that’s pretty much sector by sector and certainly not universal.”

根据最近的新闻报道, 例如, JPMorgan Chase told employees it has started bringing back sales and trading volunteers to its massive Manhattan tower this summer, 预计到劳动节时入住率将达到20%. 与此同时, Bank of America announced last week that it plans to bring employees back to offices in phases after Labor Day. 他们正在加入其他公司, including some major oil ones in Texas and a large healthcare software company in the Midwest, that have nudged large parts of their staff back to their offices.

有工厂和仓库的企业, 当然, have already had employees return en masse when the work was essential and with full safety protocols. 现在, leaders must weigh the notion of boosting occupancy in their many office buildings, an idea that strikes fear in many people’s hearts. Some are very worried about the virus spreading both inside an office setting and during the commute there. 事实上, some companies that tried to bring back office staff this summer jettisoned the plans when their states reported a spike in cases.

不过，根据 迈克01, a senior client partner in 最新太阳城官网’s Advisory 实践 focused on global financial markets, organizations in some sectors have plenty of reasons for wanting their employees back in one place. There are many leaders who do best interacting with employees face-to-face, 他说, and colleagues just interacting often leads to new ways to do business, 新产品, 以及更好的合作方式. Experts say even casual interactions at the office provide a lot of support, 无论是职业上还是个人上, 为员工. 远程工作, 就其本身而言, is forcing workers to reinvent how they work with clients and other employees. “Some people can reinvent themselves and other people can’t,” Eichenwald says.

The firms that are reopening their offices have instituted a host of safety protocols and office redesigns to ensure social distancing. Elevators, ventilation systems, and cleaning processes have been adjusted. 这些改变的效果如何, 然而, 很难知道, raising both health issues for workers and legal liabilities for firms. At the same time, many employees remain fearful of public transportation. “No one wants to gear up and then shut down again,” LoPinto says.

到目前为止, the biggest headlines on the topic have been in the opposite direction, with firms like Google announcing workers can stay at home working remotely until well into next year—Twitter, 与此同时, 称其员工可以“永远”这样做.在六月, 富士通, 总部位于日本的IT公司, 说它会移动80,000名员工全职远程工作, slashing the amount of real estate it uses in Japan by 50%.

Ultimately, the decision to return to the office will be in the hands of a few top leaders. There are bosses who naturally believe in a work-in-the-office culture, 说01, 这可能决定下一步该怎么做. 或者他们可能会重新思考如何完成工作. “The workspace is a place you go to when you have good reasons to go, rather than going because it's what you’ve always done,他说.