As vaccination rates climbed in the U.S., companies recalibrated their work-from-home policies. Some switched to 100% remote teams, others have tried a hybrid approach, and still others have told workers to return to the office full-time.
The rise of delta variant COVID-19 cases are complicating how work will look in the future, too. Employees at Apple may now work from home just two days a week; an internal letter at the company shows many workers find that work-from-home policy insufficient and would prefer “greater flexibility.”
Unilever is testing out a more progressive approach, with an announcement in January 2021 that workers will be called to the office only occasionally for social purposes.
On the employee side, many workers prefer this new normal to the status quo: 64% of professional would take a permanent work-from-home setup over a $30,000 raise, according to a May 2021 survey from professional network Blind.
Which CEOs have good things to say about their workforces’ pivots to remote work, and which are a little more shy about the remote-working trend? Take a look, from Apple all the way to Viacom.
“For all that we’ve been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other,” Tim Cook said in a June email to staff. “Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate.”
“We’ll move to a hybrid work week where most Googlers spend approximately three days in the office and two days wherever they work best,” CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a May statement. Pichai further explained that Google will support the creation of new, remote roles—or transitioning some existing roles to 100% remote.