08-08-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Returning to the Office Can Prove Too Costly
'Women Return to Office Less Than Men' (U.S. News, July 14) points to an overdue reckoning. The romantic idea that corporations once cared deeply about families was already fading by the 1980s, when leveraged buyouts, shareholder primacy and cost-cutting became the guiding business logic. The old corporate social contract—offering stability in exchange for loyalty—collapsed under the weight of short-term profits and financial engineering.
Today's debate isn't about whether women are stepping up. It's about whether institutions are willing to evolve. The post-pandemic workforce, especially women with care-giving responsibilities, is no longer interested in the outdated model of total availability, long commutes and rigid hours. That model was never built for parents—it was built for men with wives at home.
