5 business leaders make plans for the return to the office

5 business leaders share their plans for going back to the office

As businesses around the world prepare for the inevitable return to work, employees and employers are left wondering: what does that actually mean?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. After a year in which almost 70% of full-time workers in the U.S. worked from home, according to a survey by Owl Labs, companies have realized that their teams are more adaptable, flexible and productive than they may have realized. Now, business leaders are doing the hard work of figuring out the best post-pandemic plan, aiming to create a workplace scenario that will support employee happiness as well as output.

It’s wise to meet employees’ expectations, and Owl Labs’ survey found that 81% of workers think their employers will support remote work even after the pandemic is behind us. We checked in with five business leaders to hear about their various approaches — all of which prioritize their teams’ well-being.

Step by step

“We’re taking a phased approach to our return. Our first phase will be opening offices in June, but it will be voluntary for employees to return, and they’ll need to be fully vaccinated. Our phase-two plan will depend on the latest vaccination and infection rates, but we anticipate that those who worked form the office previously will return to a hybrid schedule of two or three days per week. We feel a commitment and a responsibility to the local economies in which we have physical offices, and want to do our part to support those businesses. And, we believe the office is the cultural hub for the company—there is no replacement for physically getting into a room together to collaborate.” —Darcey Schoenebeck, EVP of people and culture, RxSense

One office, two companies

“Prior to the pandemic we had an amazing office in Venice and prioritized hiring people locally, but our entire team is still working from home for now, and we are open to hiring people that live anywhere. We’ve polled our L.A.-based employees who are still enjoying WFH but would enjoy working collaboratively in an office setting up to two days a week, so we’re going to explore that set up, and may split office space with another startup that wants to work there on alternate days.” —Sara Cullen, CEO of GEM

Read more: The return to work: employers and employees face off

Regional workspaces

“The Mom Project has adopted a remote-first model. No hire is tied to a specific office or headquarters, and we’ve been able to add amazing talent to our team across the nation, from Boston to Hawaii. That said, we’re looking forward to a time when we can work and meet in person, and once we know it’s safe to do so, we plan to open studio locations in some of our centralized cities, so regional groups are able to work and collaborate together in a dedicated space.” —Allison Robinson, founder and CEO, The Mom Project

Shorter weeks

“We’re open to creating a hybrid model moving forward; we were never a 9-to-5 office, and we likely never will be. We’re also planning to experiment with a four-day work week this summer, potentially going down to four days year-round — stay tuned!” —Grace Kapin, co-founder, Storq

Read more: WFH forever? These 20 companies are hiring remote workers

Increased safety

“Owl Labs’ annual State of Remote Work report showed that 77% of people would be happier having the option to work from home. Currently, none of our employees are required to be in-office at any time, regardless of their proximity to the office. Some of our employees are coming in since they prefer to work in the office and use the space to collaborate, so we’re ensuring there are strong safety precautions in place: We’ve limited capacity significantly, have health screening check-in forms, and have a system in place for desk reservations. Conference rooms have limited capacity and there are hand sanitizer stations in every space.” —Frank Weishaupt, CEO, Owl Labs