Recently, Jean Lee, president of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, was talking with a Goldman Sachs lawyer who lost seven people in the past year to COVID-19.

"Half of her family has been wiped out by this horrible illness," Lee said. "If that person says, 'I don't feel safe going back to the office,' what do you say to that?"

Companies and, more specifically, in-house legal, operations, and human resource leaders, are grappling with these and other difficult questions as they embark on the uncertain path back to the office.