At our site (Google Waterloo) we're nowhere close to a return to office. In fact with numbers skyrocketing here we just rolled back a bunch. Most people are still fully remote. I was working hybrid coming in 2-3 days a week but nobody was ever there to collaborate with. People on the whole seem to want to return to office but not with the way things are. Many people seem fine with remote.

I'm not. My motivation suffered. I need contact and engagement. And driving in 45 minutes to sit at a desk with nobody around didn't help. So I put in my notice and after 10 years at Google this week is my last and I'll be looking for a job where I can be more engaged again, which unfortunately also probably means compensation cut.

Even the BigCorps are stuck in a remote morass. But even worse because they're not fully committed to it.

I am not sure that's true anymore. Every single application to work remotely that I know of (including mine[*]) has been approved.

That said, most people are choosing to continue being based at whatever office they were based pre-COVID and will return to office once the public health situation permits (some already have been choosing to come to the office, though the situation is obviously highly location-dependent and fluid).

[*] In my case to relocate to an office of my choosing, though the outcome would have been the same had I applied to permanently WFH.

yeah but then you have to work for google.

big companies have a _lot_ of baggage.