‘If your employer is saying you must come work in the office 100% of the time, that will be seen as unacceptable Stone Age behavior,’ Silicon Valley think tank CEO says.
A grand Silicon Valley experiment in how and where work will be done in a post-pandemic world has just gotten underway, with technology giants Google and Twitter this week announcing sharply different office reopening plans as other local firms wrestle with how and when to bring workers back to company desks.
It’s too early to say which employment models will prevail in Silicon Valley, but many companies are preparing to test the waters very soon, said Kelly Obranowicz, policy and regulatory counsel for the Bay Area Council, which represents hundreds of employers including Silicon Valley technology giants.
The moves by Mountain View digital-advertising firm Google and San Francisco social media company Twitter come on the heels of a dramatic loosening of COVID-related restrictions in the Bay Area and California. But the popularity of remote work among employees, combined with unique features of the Silicon Valley tech industry and uncertainties about possible future coronavirus variants, mean decisions about new workplace schemes are complicated and fraught, experts said.
And the talent is unlikely to be dragged back to the office against their will, said Homa Bahrami, a senior lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Haas business school. “I don’t think the workforce is willing to give up any flexibility in that work-life balance,” Bahrami said.