If you haven’t already gone back to the office for your work duties, are you ready to do so? Research shows that employers and employees have very different answers to this question. Why is this the case?
Executives Want Back to the Office About Three Times as Much as Their Employees Do
The above statement is the result of a study conducted by surveying 10,000 knowledge workers across Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A deeper dive into the numbers reveals that 76 percent of employees indicate that they don’t want to return to full-time office hours. Executives within the company, on the other hand, showcase a 68 percent rate in preference to returning to full-time office hours. 59 percent of bosses plan to pull their employees back for at least the majority of the workweek moving forward.
Another survey, however, found that 62 percent of US employees plan to return to the office for at least part of the workweek, with 34 percent of them not exactly thrilled by the prospect. 17 percent of workers plan to seek out other employment if they are forced to return to the office.
What Employees Really Want
The first batch of numbers found that workers want more flexibility in where and when they work at rates of 76 percent and 93 percent respectively. In addition to the current health-related debacle, there are life concerns that many employees have, many of which can be solved through remote work. Complications like child care costs and the daily commute have all but been eliminated, and there are plenty of other ways that working remotely can help workers save money.
Additionally, there are various personal benefits to consider, such as spending less time in the office or commuting, translating to more time spent at home with the family, or working on personal projects. It’s no wonder people don’t want to give up these benefits.
What Can an Employer Do?
One way to solve this problem is that employers can give raises to people returning to the office; this helps to offset the costs that working from home helped these employees get around. Not every business will be in a position to do this, but it’s one that we doubt any employee would complain about.
For those who do not see this as an option, there is the hybrid operations model where employees spend some of their time in the office and some of it working remotely. This gives employees the flexibility they might need while also giving employers the reassurance that they will indeed see their employees at the office at least some of the time.
Having the right technology makes implementing a hybrid workplace model much easier. To take steps toward implementing hybrid workplace technologies and policies, contact Business Solutions & Software Group at (954) 575-3992.
