About three weeks ago, my bosses asked me and my mate (who have been in the office throughout the pandemic) to do some social distancing work with our desks and the IT equipment to enable a few more people to come back in due course. Having seen the floor plans and photos of the new set-up, they said they were very pleased with the job we'd done. We got loads of plaudits for it. A few days later, my most senior boss let slip during a one-to-one discussion that she doesn't expect any more than a handful of staff to come back into the office before Christmas at the earliest as things have been working well under the current arrangements and productivity has actually increased in some areas.
For context, we have a staff of around 40. The most people we've had in the office at any one time during the lockdown is six, and even then a couple of those only called in for an hour or two to carry out specific tasks they couldn't do at home.
I'm sure there are lots of offices like ours. Indeed, the others on our site haven't reopened anywhere near fully. This has the knock-on effect of fewer people on the roads, less people on public transport, less people in the shops (we're a short walk from the city centre), etc.
I'm loving the new situation. It's often just me and my mate in the office, so there's nobody there for me to upset.