‘Work from anywhere’ is here to stay. How will it change our workplaces?

After decades of being tied to offices, Americans are suddenly free to work from wherever they want thanks to pandemic lockdowns. “When and if our employees come back will be theirs.” “We’ve told everyone: If you’re not comfortable, no problem, stay put,” said Rich Lang, senior vice president of human resources at VMware. That same year, Patrick Pichette, who was Google’s chief financial officer, said the company wanted “as few as possible” to work from home: “There is something magical about spending the time together.” Facebook, founded in 2004, resisted opening an office in nearby San Francisco until 2017, preferring to make all of its Bay Area employees commute to its campus in Menlo Park. “You’re a beta or not valued if you take a pay cut and bow to HR or dumb corporate rules,” said Adam Singer, chief marketing officer at enterprise tech firm Think3. Since then, “I’ve helped probably about 10 of my friends who are leaving San Francisco and New York City negotiate to not let their company adjust their pay,” he said.