On-demand Depth — livetext

Remote work isn't reverting. The 2020 shift looked like an emergency, but five years on it's clear the emergency revealed preferences that already existed.

Office occupancy in major US metros has stabilized at roughly 55–65% of pre-pandemic levels and hasn't moved meaningfully in eighteen months. The "return to office" narrative keeps being reported as imminent; the numbers keep being flat.

What changed wasn't the technology — video calls worked before — but the coordination problem. Once enough workers had remote as a live option, companies competing for talent couldn't unilaterally pull it back.

Companies that mandated full returns in 2023 saw disproportionate attrition among their most valuable employees — those with the most outside options. This created a selection effect where the firms holding the line lost the people most worth holding.

→ Kastle Systems Back-to-Work Barometer (weekly data)

→ Bloom, Davis, Barrero — SWAA survey, Stanford, ongoing

livetext

On the rise of remote work.