Nick Kneer was excited to go back to the office. After working from home for about a year and a half, Kneer had missed the camaraderie he had with his co-workers at the Ohio-based university library system where he works as a communications coordinator. He was counting down until he could mingle with students and staff again.<\/p>\n
But his excitement quickly faded after the reality of in-person work turned out to be far from what he expected.<\/p>\n
Instead, to avoid contracting the delta variant, he ended up locked in a \u201cwindowless, cinder block room\u201d \u2014 his temporary office \u2014 attending most of his meetings via Zoom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely a bummer,\u201d he said….<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this weird tension,\u201d said Brian Kropp, chief of HR research for research firm Gartner. \u201cWe want everyone back in the office, but we still want everyone to do work by video.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n As many workers head back to the office \u2014 even as the delta variant spreads across the U.S. \u2014 employees are facing a bizarre new reality: They\u2019re still spending most of their time isolated and glued to their computers for Zoom meetings, email and Slack. https:\/\/t.co\/2U9QFYu9Hd<\/a><\/p>\n — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n