I'm Yasi Salek and I'm the host of BandSplain, a show where we explain cult bands and iconic

artists by going deep into their histories and discographies.

We're back with a brand new season at our brand new home, The Ringer Podcast Network,

tackling a whole new batch of artists, from grunge gods to power pot pioneers to new metal

legends and many, many more.

Listen to new episodes every Thursday, only on Spotify.

Today's episode is a check-in on the future of work, with perhaps the academic expert

that I trust more on this subject than anybody in the world.

I think a good way into this topic today is to begin with some data, so there's a firm

called Castle, Castle with a K, which manages the software that people use to swipe into

office buildings.

And since 2020, they have tracked the number of people returning to offices in America's

largest cities, so leading the way in return to office right now are the big Texas

metros, Austin, Houston, Dallas.

Even there, all of them are down more than a third from their pre-pandemic normal.

But maybe most significantly, in the big coastal cities, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New

York City, San Francisco, San Jose, Philadelphia.

Fewer than 50% of white collar workers are in the office.

White work is still a big, big thing.

These numbers are higher than they were a year ago, and that's because a lot of companies

have moved to the sort of, to the second inning of the remote work revolution.

The hybrid work inning, this is sometimes called the three-two model, that's three days

...