The views expressed on this podcast are those of the participants, not of Rojers' News.

I think the biggest discrepancies between what employees want and employers are prepared to offer.

I think that the high-performing employee has as much power as they've ever had, whether

or not the labor market is strong.

And if that employee doesn't want to come into the office, then they won't.

So many artifacts of the pandemic era, social distancing signs and stores, ubiquitous mask wearing,

QR codes at restaurants are fading away as the world renormalizes from the trauma of COVID-19.

Yet one consequence of the rolling global lockdowns has proven durable, remote work. But with the cooling

of labor markets dealing employees a weaker hand, whether they will succeed is the focus

of this week's Viewsroom. Welcome back to the Viewer, the weekly podcast from Reuters

Breaking Views that invites you, the listener, into a lively debate with our colonists over the biggest stories of the week.

I'm your host, Jonathan Guilford.

And I'm Amy Doman. So, Amy, what's your take on this debate?

Is hybrid working here to stay?

Or will we all be dragged kicking and screaming back to a five-day week at our desks?

Well, it's interesting, Jonathan, you say that, because I did reprimand our colleague Francesco Guerrera who wrote this amazing piece last week, which no surprised was like our most read of the week, all about basically, hey guys, get back to work, get back to the office, because that essentially seems to be the way things are going. I mean, I think I, like many

people probably on this call, enjoy the kind of mix of coming into the office. I certainly wouldn't

want 100% working from home, but I do obviously like the flexibility. And I look back on the days

of five days a week into the office, almost like it was a crazy time.

Like that was the crazy time that we were, you know, sometimes you'd get a taxi back for a meeting that lasted a half an hour to go back in the exact same direction.

That there was sort of this, you know, the office was this sort of fully grail, this place that you had to be and you had to be visible. Otherwise, you actually weren't working. That was sort of the thinking. That's the thing. It almost feels like a part of compensation at this point. I mean, I know for me, certainly, despite being the person who lives by far the closest to the office at the Breaking Views, US, New York team at this point, I just can't even fathom the idea of being in five days a week,

no matter what, from sunup to sundown. But of course, that's a negotiating position for new

...