Bosses can’t moan about working from home and be WFH themselves

Offices remain largely empty. People have got used to WFH and they’re loving it – but senior management can’t force people back unless they go back themselves, writes Chris Blackhurst

There is no subsitute for the cooperation, cohesion and buzz of in-person working (Getty)

Early in the first lockdown, a senior partner of a major London law firm said to me they were not planning to be back in their office for a while. He and his partners would be working from home and, even once the premises were allowed to reopen, he envisaged only the junior staff immediately returning.

I spoke to him again this week and he was complaining that they could not get enough workers back into the building. He did not know when they were likely to return; too many were WFH. He’d like to order them in, but that made him uncomfortable and HR were advising against it. I asked him where he was based and he said, “at home”.

This is being repeated across the board. Offices remain largely empty. People have got used to WFH, they’re loving it and they’re not in any hurry to get out of their casual clothes and to begin commuting again.