The pandemic workplace has upended the apple cart and high-value employees are in the driver’s seat for many organizations.
Read this from the Puget Sound Business Journal:
Managers want to go back to the office full time. Many workers would rather quit.
Most managers want their employees back in the office full-time, but a lot of employees would rather walk out.
About 66% of senior managers said they want their teams to work onsite full time as the Covid-19 pandemic related restrictions end, according to a survey of 2,300 senior managers by talent solution firm Robert Half. And only one in three of those senior managers support long-term hybrid schedules.
The attitude toward remote work showcases a deep divide between managers and workers.
It's a lingering disconnect that is heavily shaping an intense market for talent, with recruiters saying flexibility is often dictating winners and losers.
About 50% of employees working remotely would look for a new job if they were required to come into the office full time, according to a separate Robert Half survey of 1,000 professionals.
That sentiment is up 16 percentage points from one year ago, with millennials most likely to call it quits if called back to the office, at about 65%.
"Employers may be holding on to the idea that the office is the best place to collaborate, innovate and get things done — but workers feel otherwise," said Robert Half Senior Executive Director Paul McDonald.
"Companies already face retention challenges, and taking away remote options will only exacerbate the problem. Hybrid work models give employers and employees flexibility and choice and are the way forward."
But this is not the first study that has shown a yawning chasm between what managers want and what workers want. In October, a report by the Future
Forum, backed by productivity company Slack, showed about 44% of executives working remotely want to work from the office every day, compared to just 17% of employees.
And overall 75% of executives said they wanted to work from the office three to five days a week compared to just 35% of employees, according to that survey.
It's becoming clear that for most workers, the added flexibility of remote work and hybrid work arrangements are now table stakes when it comes to retention and recruitment. A survey of more than 6,000 office or technology workers around the world by workplace automation company Ivanti found 71% of respondents would prefer remote work to a promotion.
Overall, just 13% wanted to work solely in the office, while 42% preferred a hybrid work model and 30% wanted to work from home — while 15% wanted to work from anywhere.
The tight labor market has also given employees a leg up in negotiating perks and other benefits, and those workers are increasingly looking to prioritize their lives over their work, according to surveys and experts. A survey from Prudential found 70% of workers say they have prioritized, or are considering prioritizing their personal lives, over their jobs and careers, while 20% said they were willing to take pay cuts if it means they could have a better balance with their personal life.
Another survey found that most workers would rather have remote work than a promotion.
“It's no longer work-life balance, it's life-work balance.” said Ron Hetrick, an economist at data and analytics firm Emsi Burning Glass. “When we’re not talking about the service-level workforce, I think the idea of flexibility is very, very strong.”
The push for more flexibility has also come in the form of a four-day workweek. About 82% of full-time American workers would trade in their
five, eight-hour days for four, 10-hour days — the same amount of hours worked — and do it for the same pay they would be getting now, according to a poll by Maru Public Opinion conducted for The Business Journals.
Here are two companies that switched to a four-day workweek and tips on how they did it.
