2023 may be the year of the big return to the office

The years 2020 through 2022 saw a fundamental shift in where people got their work done, as workers abandoned crowded offices in favor of the comfort of their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what will 2023 bring? COVID hasn’t entirely gone away, but restrictions are being eased or removed altogether, and reports signal more employers are moving toward requiring employees to go back to the office.

Will the pendulum swing?

When the pandemic forced employers to send people home, workers who never thought they would want to become work-from-homers got used to the idea, and many decided they didn’t want to go back to the old days of time-wasting commutes and the frustrating distractions of in-office work.

Hybrid is now the buzzword for many employees as they hope to enjoy the best of both worlds—part time in the office and part time working elsewhere. Hybrid is attractive to many employers, too. Since hybrid means fewer people in the workplace at the same time, employers benefit from a reduced footprint in expensive real estate.

The jury is still out on how work arrangements will shake out, but some predict that the pendulum is swinging back toward more workers in the office at least some of the time. Others, though, see a forever-changed workplace—one with as much virtual communication as in-person interaction.

Plans for 2023

In October, Resume Builder released results of a survey of 1,000 business leaders showing that 66% of employers were requiring employees to work from the office, and 90% were planning to require employees to return in 2023.