The office strikes back

It may be Labour Day, but more and more bosses would really prefer if you did that labour in the office rather than your home office/kitchen table/bed.

Driving the news: After several years of tolerating work-from-home arrangements, a growing number of large employers are demanding staff return to the office for at least a few days each week. 

• RBC and Scotiabank have told employees to expect to come back to the office for two to three days per week in the coming months.
   
• A number of federal public service departments are aiming to have people back in the office by mid-September, per The Hill Times.
   
• Bay Street law firm, Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP, will require employees to be in the office at least three days per week starting tomorrow.

Why it’s happening: Employers are growing increasingly convinced that video calls are no substitute for in-person collaboration and productivity has suffered from remote work arrangements. 

• There’s also the matter of office leases: large companies would love to fill up their big, expensive offices that have been sitting empty for nearly three years.

Yes, but: There appears to be little appetite among workers to resume a life of painful commutes, rigid schedules, and office small-talk.

• 32% of Canadians say they’d look for another job if their employer demanded they work exclusively from the office, according to an Ipsos poll from the spring.
   
• And with unemployment at record lows, workers willing to find a new job are in a strong negotiating position.

Bottom line: Big employers sending people back to the office will build momentum for a broader return to the office—that could create an opportunity for companies that stick with remote work to scoop up talent.