I very much disliked working from home when the pandemic hit. I very much enjoy it now.

Back in March 2020, I was in charge of our entire Seattle office. I enjoyed going downtown and interacting with about 20 colleagues every day. I liked the variety of lunch options, and yes, the occasional happy hour. The choices were limitless. I fed off the energy of the city.

We don’t have any traditional office space today, though we do have an option at a social club. We’re required to come in once a week for team meetings. I sometimes go twice a week, but I find I’m much more productive at home.

I’ve watched with interest the conflicting array of studies the past few years of the benefits of working from home vs. being in an office. I’m especially intrigued over the fallout from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s recent mandate that all workers must return to a physical office five days a week starting in January. As you most probably know, that has gone over about as well as a rainstorm at a picnic.

Amazon workers rated the policy a dismal 1.4 out of 5, according to a recent Fortune magazine survey. A Glassdoor poll of more than 700 Amazon workers found that about 75% of employees said the mandate had them “rethinking their future” with the company. Wow.

I have a friend who recently joined Amazon. The expectation was that he could work from home twice a week. He’s not considering leaving, but he is most definitely not happy with the mandate.

The disconnect between workers and companies is real. A recent Gallup poll found that six in 10 employees want a hybrid work environment. One-third prefer full-time remote work. Less than 10% want to be in an office all the time. Another poll from KPMG found that 79% of CEOs expect in-person work to once again become the norm in coming years. Something’s gotta give.

The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research says 40% of U.S. employees work remotely at least once a week. It also found that fully remote work leads to lower productivity. I wouldn’t have guessed that.

At this point, the future of work is a roll of the dice. It’s unpredictable — and fascinating to watch.