Return to Work Plans

Ed Braunbeck

With Q1 being complete and the availability of vaccines increasing, I'm curious how other companies are managing the return to work challenges. Now that everyone has been remote, I think a majority of people would prefer to stay that way or at least have the option to work 2-3 days from home. It's hard to put that genie back in the bottle. ?

My company is less than 50 employees with only the AE's returning to our workspace in late June. There's been zero health issues. ??Our Partners are split between returning to work like pre-COVID and a hybrid model. One idea was to allow the department managers to make the decision. Clearly, the Developers, Tech Support and Onboarding would stay remote. This has already created tension with the AE's. There's a concern that the 2-3 days remote would be less than productive. 

Thanks in advance for sharing. 

Anna Alley

I would think the questions/concerns around productivity would have been answered during WFH this past year. Were they less productive in 2020 than in previous years? If not, then I would think allowing them to have the same options make sense.

Our company is going to largely WFH optional policy. Likely will have a mix of assigned desks for those who come in at least 3 days a week, and hotel-style desks for those who come in more sporadically. I agree entirely that teammates have now gotten used to working from home and most are wanting to maintain that in some semblance moving forward.

Brian Hartley

We haven't announced anything formal but I suspect it will be a hybrid approach, largely at the discretion of the teams.  I.E. CS comes in a few days a week and WFH on the other days while Engineering and Marketing may do something different.  Our company is small too, 45 people.  

Shari Srebnick

We're a global company, but our US org is only about 25 people, with many remote already.  Obviously, they'll stay remote.

For those that live in proximity to the office, our return to work looks very similar to what Anna's company is doing, and the leaders have discretion for their own teams.  

Most people want the flexibility (and autonomy) to do what's best for them, and 2020 proved we are just as productive, if not more so, working from home.  At the end of the day, as long as people are getting things done, I personally don't care where they sit while they do it.

That said, there may be times when we need people in the office (EU colleagues coming in, etc), but that will be communicated in plenty of time to prepare.