The Return to Office Lie: Why It’s Failing Companies

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The pandemic thrust millions of us into remote work, and the consensus for most of us is – we love it! Reduced commutes, getting deliveries, our own bathrooms, and the ability to hang out with our pets!

So then why are major employers increasingly pushing back against remote work while bemoaning quiet quitting and the degradation of office culture? And their biggest corporate complaint…less productivity…seems to be a lie! Really, no really!

Jason and Peter were surprised by this revelation and needed more info, so they enlisted the help of Nick Bloom. He’s Co-Director of the Productivity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and well equipped to explain not only the latest technological innovations created for at-home work but also the changing socio-economic realities that make working from home a critical part of our economy.

Professor Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He is the co-founder of WFH Research. He’s also the recipient of the prestigious Frisch Medal in 2010. In 2022 he was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship and Bloomberg ranked him as one of its 50 Most Influential.

IN THIS EPISODE:

The Definitive Answer: Which environment is more productive home or office?
Toenail clipping, zero privacy…who’s the a-hole who invented open floor plans?
The most hated workplace related activity revealed!
The things we LIKE about working in an office.
The blackhole of mentorship when working from home.
Big Brother Surveillance: Monitoring keystrokes, productivity screen shots, face cameras & Mouse movers!
The future of massively empty skyscrapers is…?
The Great Migration from city-centers to the suburbs and its extortionary repercussions.
How our commutes have been changed by remote work.
Medicine, therapy, warfare, romance – Jason ponders in-person vs remote.
Googleheim: The worst places to work are…?