"Return to the office is dead,” Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University, has said

"Return to the office is dead,” Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University, has said.

In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2020, 61.5% of paid, full workdays were conducted from home, as per the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes. However, this percentage declined by about half through 2022 as companies urged employees to return to in-person work. In 2023, the share of paid work-from-home days has remained "totally flat," hovering around 28%, according to an interview with economist Nicholas Bloom on CNBC.

This level is still four times higher than the pre-pandemic 7%. Kastle data, measuring employee office swipe-ins, indicates that office occupancy in the 10 largest U.S. metro areas has plateaued at around 50% in 2023. Despite being three and a half years into remote work, the trend has stalled, and a significant shift would require something as impactful as the initial pandemic conditions. The surge in remote work during the pandemic was initially driven by lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, but it gained favor among workers due to benefits like no commute, flexible schedules, and less time spent preparing for work.

The hot job market in the U.S. since early 2021 has given workers increased bargaining power, and the value of working from home is equated to an 8% pay raise by many. Presently, most remote work follows a "hybrid" model, with some days at home and others in the office. About 47% of employees who can work from home were in hybrid arrangements as of October 2023, while 19% were full-time remote, and 34% were fully on-site, according to WFH Research.

Around 11% of online job postings now advertise fully remote or hybrid positions, compared to 3% before the pandemic, highlighting the shift in the labor market toward remote work. However, there is substantial variation in remote work policies among different companies.