A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. By then, the number of Americans quitting work had already exceeded pre-pandemic highs for six straight months. One driver appears to have been that many workers were no longer willing to put up with working conditions and pay that were the pre-pandemic norms.

The retreat from major cities has been the pandemic’s big real estate story. In 2021, Bloomberg says, office rentals fell by 3.8% in Hong Kong, 8.1% in London and 14% in New York. 

But in London, Google is making a billion-dollar bet on the future of in-office working with the acquisition of more office developments in the centre of the capital. The giant American technology group is building the capacity to house at least ten thousand employees in Britain. These include a state-of-the-art modern corporate headquarters in a sprawling London ‘landscraper’.

Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Google says: “Our focus remains on creating flexible workspaces that foster innovation, creativity and inclusivity.” Last year Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive of Google’s parent Alphabet, announced a plan for most staff to work from its offices for three days a week and “wherever they work best” for the remainder.

The London Times reports that Google intends to invest millions of Pounds to create “collaboration spaces” for “in-person teamwork” and “hybrid meeting rooms”. Google plans to “de-densify” offices and to add covered outdoor spaces to enable staff to work in the fresh air.

This may seem distant from us in Africa, but the world is now a very small place and trends move fast. Perhaps we can now address the cultural disconnect that arises from placing highly sociable people, drawn from a largely informal society, into work environments that were first imagined during the Western World’s Industrial Era.