Tacos, treehouses, virtual golf: top firms try to bribe workers back to the office

theguardian.com:

Since the pandemic began, millions of workers around the world have gone remote and we now have a raft of recent studies that suggest what many workers have long argued: remote work makes people happier, healthier, and evenmore productive. And it’s especially preferred by people belonging to underrepresented groups, who have reported feeling more included and less anxious when remote.

Despite pandemic restrictions lifting, workers aren’t in a hurry to return to the office, or “RTO”. A tight labor market is making it even harder for companies to force people to come back. Banks like JP Morgan initially took a hard line on ending remote work, but have backed down in the face of worker revolts.

That’s why growing numbers of bosses are offering special sweeteners to anyone willing to switch off Zoom and trudge back into the conference room. But will any of these tactics work?

First we had cubicles. Then came the “open-plan” trend. Now companies are betting that workers want offices that feel more like the home environments they’ve gotten accustomed to. At a thinktank discussion called “Designing Workplaces for the Human Experience”, architects bragged that they had equipped Uber’s new headquarters in San Francisco with luxuries like operable windows, outdoor terraces, and a wellness center that has hanging swing seats. One architect explained that they had designed a floor overlooking greenery to make “employees feel like they’re in a tree house”.

Talk about above par: in New York City’s midtown, one real estate firm has installed a professional-level virtual golf links that uses infrared sensors and cameras to analyze your swing. Brian Wallick, the director of investments at Nuveen Real Estate, told the New York Post that