The borderline hysteria that the COVID pandemic provoked has finally exhausted itself. Americans – old and young, healthy or not, Trump lovers and Trump haters – have traded in their enervating views on the virus and returned to the habits of the pre-COVID days. They are gathering maskless at restaurants. Children are attending school. And the stadiums and concert halls of America are filling up again.

Among the most reluctant, however, are American workers. Many are going back to the factories and offices in which they used to spend 40+ hours a week. But many are not.

My business partners, whose employee counts range from several dozen to several thousand, have differing views on what should be done. Some believe their businesses would be better served with a complete return to the old days. They tell me that having workers in situ will improve productivity, accelerate the transfer of knowledge from seniors to newbies, and generally increase company morale.

Others, like me, have a less certain perspective. We believe there is some value in having one’s employees in the same space some of the time. But we also think there are good reasons to believe that productivity is as good or better with so much of the work being done remotely. And we can’t help figuring how much money we can save on rent.

Employees have their own points of view. Some long to be away from whatever it is that happens at home during their working hours and look forward to the refuge of an orderly workplace and collegial community. But the vast majority, according to the surveys I’ve read, would like a future that gives them the liberty to come and go as they wish.

At a recent board meeting with my main client, we decided to avoid making a cross-company mandate, and passed along the decision to the individual heads of each of the operating groups. Most of them are settling for policies of partial return. At least one, though, is looking to get everyone back full-time. He’s running into resistance because many of his employees would rather have the freedom to decide how many days they should spend in the office. And some, including some very valuable employees, are simply refusing to come back at all.

The arguments he is hearing from his employees that don’t wish to return are what you would expect. “I get more done at home.” And, “I can work more hours now because I don’t have to waste an hour every day commuting.”

A group of Apple employees are resisting the company’s back-to-the-office mandates by taking an entirely different approach. You will be amused to discover their argument in News & Views, below.