As COVID rates fall, one thing that's abundantly clear is that there's a discrepancy between how employees feel about a return to the office and how their bosses feel. Part of the issue is a lack of communication. In a recent McKinsey study, two-thirds of full-time corporate or government employees surveyed said that their employers haven’t shared a detailed post-pandemic office strategy. “Our recent research found that this failure to communicate clearly is hurting morale, culture, and retention,” write University of Massachusetts Lowell professors Kimberly Merriman, David Greenway, and Tamara Montag-Smit.

If you’re a leader, now is the time to clarify expectations to employees, as well as considering what this remote work period can teach us about company culture, collaboration, and flexibility. And if you’re an employee navigating a lack of certainty at your workplace, you’re not alone. Luckily there are ways you can advocate for yourself, whether that means making the case to your boss to stay remote, designing your ideal post-pandemic work schedule, or even looking for a new job altogether.

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