9 to 5. What a way to make living?

9 to 5. What a quaint idea. Remember 2019, back when we used to drag ourselves to our offices

on Monday mornings, fuel ourselves with coffee, and somehow get through the week? Well, for many of us, that is a distant

memory. The pandemic completely upended the notion of going to work. In its place, a patchwork.

In person is easy. All remote is easy. The gray zone, a lot of uncertainty.

I'm Andrea Shue.

I cover workplace issues for NPR's business desk, and I'm here to explore getting back to the office and how to make a hybrid setup work.

I think the one thing most of us can assume is that no day is going to be identical anymore.

You know, maybe I want to work in the office Wednesdays, but at home, Monday, Tuesday,

Thursday, Friday.

And you might choose to do something completely different.

Now, some of you might be thinking, what?

I'm an essential worker.

I never worked from home.

Or I've been back in my office for months full time.

We know.

Hybrid work is not possible in all professions, but we also know a lot has

changed in the pandemic for office workers. Pretty much once they declared a pandemic in the U.S.,

I was like, I don't know that I want to go back into the office right now. Some of us miss going

into the office. I might be one of the few

people in the country who kind of enjoys going to the office. Others appreciate having a flexible

work schedule. I sleep better because I have more of a work-life balance. I actually have time off of

...