Despite Amazon’s return to the office, the future of work is flexibility [Video]

LAST UPDATE | 17 hrs ago

AMAZON, ONE OF the world’s largest employers and a key investor in Ireland, has just announced a return-to-office (RTO) mandate requiring staff to return to the office five days a week starting in January 2025.

Similar announcements have been made recently by other big global employers with US-centric workforces, such as Starbucks and Nike.

While the move is significant and highly visible, it also presents an opportunity to interrogate why this is happening. For all the recent breaking news on the supposed demise of remote work now that the pandemic has finished, it is important to engage with experts in the field of distributed work and to examine the data behind why remote and hybrid operating models — when implemented correctly — can have a significantly positive impact on people, profit and the planet alike.

Is it therefore time for companies and all other stakeholders to stop focusing on …