CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After more than 400 days of working from home, many workers are pushing back against the idea of returning to the office because they can do their jobs remotely forever.
The divide between employees and their bosses has only grown over the past few weeks as COVID-19 restrictions are eased nationwide and things return closer to where they were before the pandemic.
A recent Gallup poll shows that 45% of American workers are still working remotely at least some of the time, and the overwhelming majority of those people say they want flexible work options in the future.
Apple just announced that starting in September, employees will have to return to the office three days a week. Employees responded with a letter asking the company to reconsider its plan. They think the office should be a flexible space where people can come in if they need to or work remotely if they prefer it.
The U.S. government is also trying to figure out what their return will look like. One official estimated that about half of the federal workforce, around 1 million workers, could probably do their jobs from home, although many stayed on-site during the pandemic.
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Many Charlotte companies will spend this summer phasing in employees, including Bank of America, Duke Energy and Wells Fargo. All three of those companies have marked Labor Day as a goalpost for returning to normal office hours.
Other companies, like Fort Mill marketing firm Red Ventures, are allowing most employees to work remotely if they want until the end of 2021.
Contact Rachel Lundberg at rlundberg@wcnc.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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