Making remote work: Lessons from Allstate

When Allstate Insurance invited employees back to the office in the summer of 2021, they expected a stampede of workers tired of isolation and eager to see one another. But a funny thing happened on the way back to work: Employees said, “No, thank you.”

So, CEO Thomas Wilson did something few businesses of Allstate’s size and complexity have dared to do: Instead of mandating a return to the office, he polled employees and let them decide how the company would move forward. The result? 83 percent chose remote, 16 percent hybrid, and just 1 percent preferred the office.

Wilson went all in, sold off the insurance giant’s Northbrook, Illinois, headquarters campus and fully embraced a new way of working. Now, when the company’s nearly 46,000 employees need to meet in person, they rely on hoteling, using digital tools to reserve a desk or conference room in one of the satellite offices. Allstate has been thriving throughout, with revenues jumping to $50.6 billion in 2021, up more than 20 percent from the prior year.

Other CEOs, like Horizon Therapeutics’ Tim Walbert , are finding success going in the opposite direction: mandating five days a week in the office.

Welcome to the front lines of the greatest labor revolution since the advent of the internet, a work-in-progress, living lab for how we get things done. As CEOs report, they are still grappling with how to put work back together in a way that keeps them competitive while allowing them to hold on to their talent. It’s uncharted territory, to be sure, and there are advantages and drawbacks to every option. “There is no playbook, no correct answer,” says Rebecca Cenni-Leventhal, CEO of?Atrium Staffing .

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