With 19,000 employees in 183 offices in 75 countries, most working remotely, I keep being asked when we are going back to the office. With offices in every pandemic hot spot in the world — from Wuhan to Milan — let alone places with reputations of managing the crisis, like Singapore or Seoul, we have learned that no matter what is allowed, people do not go quickly or easily back to the office. …
Lawyers, bankers, accountants, consultants, executives of all types, all are wondering when they and others like them might “go back to the office,” as if the answer will come by government edict and the only variable is timing. But, in reality, the answer is, it’s not going to happen — at least not as we once knew it — no matter what any government official says.
— Joe Andrew, global chairman of Dentons, writing in an opinion piece about what the concept of “going back to the office” means for professionals and the support staff who work with them, noting that the “literal distance between the haves and the have nots is likely going to grow even wider” if these workplaces open before a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available. Click here to read Andrew’s important essay, which deals with issues like financial instability and sexism that would be put on display if professionals push to return to the office too soon.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.