Future Of Work

‘We’re looking at a culture war’: The growing divide between bosses and staff over remote working

After more than two years of employees working from home, many big companies want to shift the balance back to the office – but staff who are used to remote working are likely to put up plenty of resistance

Sarah Kennedy, owner of Kennedy’s Cafe: ‘Corporates are engaging in team breakfasts to bring people back into the office.’ Picture: Dena Shearer

Sarah Kennedy can offer an insight into how many workers have returned to their offices in Dublin, by pointing to the metric that her own business depends on: sandwich sales.

Before the pandemic struck, a big part of business for Kennedy’s Café, which has five locations in Dublin, was corporate lunches and sandwich orders from offices. While over-the-counter sales are back to around 90 per cent of where they were in March 2020, the office ...