Reconsidering the Return to Office, With Nicholas Bloom

After working from home gained widespread adoption out of
necessity, organizations must now optimize their remote work
strategies for the long term. Stanford Professor Nicholas Bloom
joins the Talent Angle to explain the implications of
return-to-office mandates for organizations and their workforce.
Drawing upon data on employee sentiment, workforce productivity
and organizational performance, Bloom shares how organizations
can set the right strategy for their context. He argues that, in
many cases, remote work enables enough profitability to outweigh
leaders’ concerns about productivity, and shares how to approach
collaboration in a hybrid world.


Nicholas (Nick, he/his/him) Bloom is the William Eberle Professor
of Economics at Stanford University. His research focuses on
working from home, management practices and uncertainty. He
previously worked at the UK Treasury and McKinsey & Company
and the IFS. He has a BA from Cambridge, an MPhil from Oxford,
and a PhD from University College London. He is a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of the
Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships, the Frisch Medal and a National
Science Foundation Career Award. He was elected to Bloomberg50
for his advice on working from home. 


Caroline Walsh is a vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. She
leads teams supporting clients’ build and maintain strong
employee experience and diversity, equity, and inclusion
programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on
commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a
bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University,
and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton
University.