As the pandemic sent corporate America from boardrooms to bedrooms in 2020, long-held assumptions about productivity are now rightfully up for debate. On one side of the spectrum are those that argue that office spaces facilitate an agglomeration of ideas, culture, and productive output. On the other hand, many argue that long commutes into places of work are outdated norms, and the commute time saved by remote work can generate both greater worker productivity and improved quality of life — a classic case of having the cake and eating it too. Now, with 2021 in the rearview, and after two distinct COVID waves derailed back-to-office timelines, there has been little resolution to the so-called big questions from a year ago.
