News that Amazon is expecting all employees to return to the office for a full five-day working week next year has rekindled the debate about the best blend of office and home work for an organisation and its employees.

You might, quite reasonably, have assumed that all of this was settled a long time ago, and that the answer to the “right” mix of home and office time for corporate workers is…not as simple as that. Every firm, employee and team is going to have its own optimal blend of in-person and remote time based on capabilities, personalities and commuting time and distance, to name just a few things. Figuring this out is a key part of a modern manager’s role. It’s almost certain not to be revealed via top down edicts from a couple of continents away.