I returned to the office this week, joining thousands of bankers from Citigroup Inc. to Morgan Stanley that are trickling back to their desks in Hong Kong. After almost five months working from home, it's going to take some getting used to.
The easing of coronavirus lockdowns heralds the beginning of the end for the world's greatest work-from-home experiment. Perhaps. Twitter Inc. will let employees work from home permanently even after the outbreak recedes, while others such as Google have said staff should expect to stay away for the rest of the year. The upheaval caused by the pandemic has caused many to question whether we will ever return to business as usual, giving rise to headlines such as "the death of the office.” I have my doubts.
My initial reaction to being told to stay home in January was panic. With two teenage daughters about to start online schooling and a husband who would also need to work from home, I struggled to see how our crowded 47th-floor apartment would cope. I’d had a taste already, when the office became all but inaccessible for several days during the height of Hong Kong’s protests last year, so I knew what we were facing. Over the following, fractious few months, I have jostled for space on the dining table, mediated disputes between the girls, and tussled over the yoga mat — a crucial stretching prop for laptop-induced shoulder strains, as well as an essential accessory for online physical education classes.