The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a mass shift to remote work, but not everyone is convinced it’s a good idea long-term. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has gone so far as to declare the experiment a failure, saying that working from home has led to a “loss of creativity”. Altman was speaking at an event in San Francisco, where he was joined by others who have expressed similar views, including Disney CEO Bob Iger and Starbucks’ Howard Schultz.
This is a view shared by many in the tech industry. Keith Rabois from Founders Fund, for example, has said he does not invest in companies that allow remote work. Elon Musk has also been vocal about his preference for employees to be back in the office.
It seems clear that some companies are moving away from remote work policies. Apple, for example, recently introduced a three-day attendance requirement, despite protests from employees. The Munich Ifo Institute reports that in Germany, 73.4% of IT service providers are still working from home, despite the lifting of home office requirements in March 2022.
For startups, however, attendance seems to be non-negotiable. Altman believes that technology isn’t good enough for people to be able to work remotely forever, especially with startups. Despite this, OpenAI has been extremely successful, with the release of ChatGPT and deals with Microsoft.
It remains to be seen whether remote work will become a permanent fixture or be phased out in favor of more traditional work arrangements. For now, it seems that many in the tech industry are leaning towards the latter, at least for startups.
