The flip side of ‘flexibility’: Working moms make the powerful case for going back to the office

The future for offices is dire, if you scan headlines from the last year. The pandemic might be the “end of the office as we know it.” We may “never go back” to the office, post-COVID-19. Do workers ever need to return?

For some working moms, their emphatic answer is “yes.” 

“It was constant juggling. I found myself working all hours of the day, crazy hours,” says Rachel Tan, a senior executive assistant at Salesforce in San Francisco, and the mother of a 13-year-old and 2-year-old, about her experience working from home during the pandemic. “Writing an email in the five minutes I have between warming up my daughter’s lunch in the microwave . . . it’s been really difficult. Being at home with kids and trying to single-task is absolutely impossible.” 

Pre-pandemic, there were around 23 million working mothers in America. Though many are essential workers who never had the option to stay home, one year ago millions of others found themselves suddenly trying to work from their couches, kitchen tables, beds, and kids’ rooms. They found ways to adapt. But their methods show how difficult, distracting, and stressful it can be to try to work in the same space where you parent.