This year was not like most. No one could have predicted at the beginning of the year just how different our lives would look at the end. In early 2020, a new virus quickly proved to be devastating, bringing a sudden change to how we spend the majority of our days: going to work. With abrupt directives to work from home, we left our desk plants, monitors, and commutes behind. As employees adapted to working from their kitchen tables, the economy dipped into recession and hundreds of thousands of people died from COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While some welcomed not having to go into the office, others struggled. On Ideas by WeWork<\/a>, we published a blind research study that showed how collaboration\u2014and hence innovation and the health of an organization\u2014declined<\/a> when individuals weren\u2019t able to be together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the summer months brought a slowdown of new virus infections, businesses started to bring employees back<\/a> to the workplace\u2014tentatively at first, then more strategically by incorporating employee feedback on their comfort levels. Organizations tried out new office models: splitting the headquarters into several smaller offices<\/a>, or setting up entire satellite campuses<\/a> in cities around the world. We published a second research study, also blind, about what made a return to the office successful<\/a> for those who did return in the fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n