Hybrid Normal

It seems overall the pandemic has had very positive impact on our lives. By "our" I mean the wealthy people living in the western civilization. The civilization of well developed countries, with broad/easy access to vaccination programs, and the civilization where the basic survival needs of the citizens are fully taken care of by the states. The civilization where entertainment and consumption are the key necessities people are after and time is the key scarcity.

We have more time now at our disposal, thanks to the pandemic. 

Or thanks to the remote / hybrid work mode we have globally adopted. Teleconferencing is here to stay and while people are still keen to get together in the office or at conferences / conventions. they clearly do not wan to do that every day. Because in so many cases staying at home and doing the work to be done is equally (or more) effective.

And saves us the commute time.

The pandemic has freed us from the daily commute in traffic jams. Of course the lockdowns were raised as a very bad things by the media hysteria (media just cannot stop the hysterical tone, or they would die), but we have quickly adapted and adopted this new normal. And of course we were missing meeting outer people face-t-face. But ass soon as the lockdowns were lifted, we quickly realized we do not want to give away the gift of working remotely.

Apple, in particular, has not been able to accept this new normal. I wonder if this perhaps is because its shiny new "spaceship" HQ has been half empty and thus not very inviting? And they have long been fighting (and losing) the battle with their employees. With the continuing high profile personel departures.

I think there is no return to the pre-pandemic regime of strict office hours and in-person presence. It will be up to the teams to self-organize. The companies which manage to be the most effective (and flexible) with this will win over mid-longer terms. There is simply no way to force anyone in a high profile job to be productive. The more you squeeze, the less you get.