Dear valued merchants,

The New Year is a time for reflection, anticipation, and, invariably, resolutions—many of which involve health and fitness-related components. Year after year, getting in shape is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions.

Gyms, along with restaurants, movie theatres, and hotels, have borne the brunt of the pandemic, as have just about all businesses in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector. Case in point: a 2020 McKinsey report noted that this and other most-affected sectors might not hit their pre-pandemic stride until 2024 or even 2025.

As the owner of a cat with a chronic illness, I am no stranger to my veterinarian. We were lucky that throughout the pandemic Big Moose, my cat, did not have any serious flare up of his illness. That said, I still got to see how our vet practice navigated lockdown measures while still providing necessary care, medicine, and products to their clients every time I had to head to the clinic to buy Big Moose’s specially prescribed food. It was clear during those interactions that the pandemic has not impacted the dedication these professionals have to their career, as well as to their clients and their owners.

With the Delta variant throwing a wrench into reopening plans, it looks like “back to normal” and “back to the office” won’t be happening any time soon. So we thought we’d throw together some stats on remote work so you can take the pulse of employee sentiment in the U.S. (and impress your colleagues at the water cooler, of course). Here we go.