For six years, I have been saving/clipping (in Evernote) the full contents of noteworthy articles and reports about the future of work and the workplace. The resulting database has proven to be a tremendous asset throughout my workplace career on the client (Credit Suisse), consulting (JLL), and coworking (WeWork) sides...both for me personally and for when clients and colleagues are looking for relevant and company-specific inspiration, quotes, statistics, etc.

As of today (January 13, 2021), my archive includes 1,400+ articles and 500+ reports. I've never previously attempted to analyze linguistic trends from across the years but, when I read "The Death of the Office is Upon Us" in the Wall Street Journal this evening, I couldn't help but think to myself: "I feel like a lot of office-related articles use that dead/death trope as clickbait."

So I checked and found 15 articles with "dead" or "death" in the titles, with just over half (8/15) from the post-COVID period. So while the office has supposedly been "dying" for a while — at least in the pages of fairly reputable publications — the pace has significantly increased.

I encourage you to read the articles below to see how the narrative has evolved over time, and to encourage your journalist friends to start working on more optimistic headers. The office may be dead, but the workplace of the future is only just beginning.

If you have any questions, comments, or amazing additions to the list, please get in touch: