As millions of workers remain under quarantine throughout the world, many are awaiting a return to the offices and workplaces they frequented in pre-pandemic times with a sense of anticipation. It sounds counterintuitive. Who among us prefers the sterile corridors and anodyne decor that typically characterize the modern workspace to the personalized comforts of home, let alone the burdens of commuting and punching the clock to the pleasures of typing from an armchair or taking lunch at our favorite neighborhood coffee shop?

Several months into pandemic-related work-from-home measures, however, these novelties seem to be losing their luster for many workers rapidly growing tired of endless Zoom calls, mourning the collapse of the normal office-home divide, and missing the company of the colleagues with whom they once socialized during the day. According to a study conducted by the global architecture and design firm Gensler, a mere 12 percent of US workers currently prefer the idea of working from home full time.

Among managers and executives, on the other hand, there seems to be a growing consensus around making COVID-related work-from-home measures the new normal, even after the public health pretext has long disappeared. In the tech world, especially, many companies are already looking forward to a post-pandemic future where remote work is the default model and the conventional workspace all but disappears.