The pandemic has catalyzed tremendous change. In the office sector, those changes are still evolving, but at this point, many are predicting the industry will adopt a hybrid work model with a mash-up of in-office and remote work and more reliance on regional office space. The change won't only impact office usage but office culture as well. Specifically, it could upend the idea of the first-one-in, last-one-out hard work mentality of the office.

Office experts at a virtual CREW San Diego event poised the question of how office culture will change under a hybrid work structure. If employees aren't in the office, how will leaders and other employees perceive hard work? In the past, flexible workers have been penalized, said Mary Blair-Loy, professor of sociology and co-director for Center for Research on Gender in STEMM at the University of California at San Diego, at the event. "This has been uprooted," she said. "There is a great possibility to keep hybrid model with protections in place." This would de-stigmatize workplace flexibility.

Other panelists worried that this progress would be stymied once the world reopens. "My fear is that with the initial rush back to face-to-face, who will keep pushing the ball uphill," wondered Kristen Reed, a workplace strategist at Herman Miller. For real, lasting change to occur and for workplaces to truly adopt more flexible policies, changes will need to continue long after the shadow of the pandemic recedes. "It will take hard work from all of us," added Reed.