Going Back To The Office?

Recent research from Owl Labs suggested that workers are happier with hybrid arrangements than they would be if they were working full-time in the office.  In their survey, they found that 62% would take a pay cut and 4% would quit if they couldn’t continue to work on a hybrid or remote basis.  According to the survey, more than half of employees have gone into the office to show their face for a few hours before leaving and some others who haven’t yet done that have said that they would like to.

Unsurprisingly, employers surveyed were less enthusiastic about hybrid and remote arrangements, with two-thirds preferring staff to work in the office.  On the other hand, over three-quarters of workers have a preference for hybrid/remote.  Over a third of workers surveyed would quit or look for another job if they were forced back to the office.

The survey covers the US and other global locations including the UK and it is maybe an indication of what is coming to the UK rather than what is already here, with the survey showing a higher proportion (66%) already working in the office than you would expect from anecdotal evidence here.

Another survey, this time of 1,300 chief executives by KPMG, showed that only 7% of bosses saw hybrid and remote working as the future.  Of the UK based respondents, 63% of chief exec’s expected staff to be fully back in the office within 3 years.  It looks like the big return will be incentivised – 83% of UK bosses said that staff making an effort to get back to the office would be rewarded in the form of pay increases or promotions, for example.

The transition will be an interesting one to observe, given that most candidates that we speak to have hybrid working as a prerequisite rather than a “nice to have”.  How long that expectation will survive, given the general shift towards more of an employers’ market, remains to be seen.