Billionaire CEOs were quick to sing the praises of working from home at the start of the pandemic, calling it the way of the future — but over the last three years, they’ve slowly changed their tune.

Late last year, Forbes reported that 90% of companies will return to the office in 2024, with 28% threatening to fire workers who don’t comply.

But it turns out that the motivations for calling workers back to the office may have less to do with employee productivity or profit margins and everything to do with catering to the egos of controlling managers who want their workers back, according to a recent study published by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mark Ma, an associate professor of business administration from Pitt’s Katz Graduate School of Business, who led the study, told BI he started the research hoping to understand why some S&P 500 firms want employees to return to the office while other firms avoid calling them back.

“One of the most common arguments management suggests is that they want to return to office because employee productivity is low at home, and they believe returns to office would help firms improve performance and ultimately improve the firm’s value,” Ma told BI. “That’s the reason they give — but our results actually do not support these arguments.”

  • @Aux
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    -101 year ago

    You wanted socialism. Can’t have socialism without a dictatorship.

    • @Nudding
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      91 year ago

      Oh, you’ve been propagandized against an economic arrangement, that must feel strange. Hopefully capitalism will save you 🙄

      • @Aux
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        -11 year ago

        Yeah, after growing up in communism, I’m pretty happy with capitalism.

        • @Nudding
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          11 year ago

          I’m happy for you. Sounds like you’ve got a lot more to learn about it though lol.

          • @Aux
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            01 year ago

            Or maybe you should move to North Korea to enjoy communism for a while.

            • @Nudding
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              21 year ago

              Thanks for the discussion. As someone born and raised in capitalism, just give it 30 or 40 years, you’ll be ready for something new.

              • @Aux
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                01 year ago

                I’m not young enough to live another 40 years, but every year brings new and exciting opportunities and I’m looking forward to enjoying all of them!

                • @Nudding
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                  01 year ago

                  Don’t worry, capitalism will destroy the climate before it gets a chance to get stale for you.

                  • @Aux
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                    -11 year ago

                    Nah, it won’t.