The return-to-office wars are over
The return-to-office wars are over
Just 6 out of 158 U.S. CEOs said they'll prioritize bringing workers back to the office full-time in 2024, according to a new survey released by the Conference Board.
Why it matters: Executives are increasingly resigned to a world where employees don't come in every day, as hybrid work arrangements — mixing work from home and in-office — become the norm for knowledge workers.
Zoom in: "Maintain hybrid work," was cited as a priority by 27% of the U.S. CEOs who responded to the survey, conducted in October and November.
- A separate survey of chief financial officers by Deloitte, conducted in November, found that 65% of CFOs expect their company to offer a hybrid arrangement this year.
State of play: "Remote work appears likely to be the most persistent economic legacy of the pandemic," write Goldman Sachs economists in a recent note.
- About 20%-25% of workers in the U.S. work from home at least part of the week, according to data Goldman cites.
- That's below a peak of 47% during the pandemic but well above its prior average of around 3%.
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To put this another way.
If your employee is capable of working from home, and an employee has to be home, would you rather them work or take the day off?
Saying full time in office sounds nice. But employers are going to choose to have a working associate over a non-working associate.
It's a funny situation when it comes to government work, because technically the job doesn't actually produce anything. There are no shareholders and no profits. If an asshat micromanager wants to see a bunch of people keeping their office seats warm, they don't give a shit about productivity.
My office would genuinely rather I take the day off, and that mindset is never going to change. Luckily, I get a decent amount of remote time, but there is literally no reason that it couldn't just be 100% remote.
I worked for a government contractor for about 4 years. About half the year there was nothing to do, but retraining and retaining talent was so difficult, that it was just more cost effective to have people sit around and do nothing. And since the boss was really the government paying the bills, nobody really cared most of the time.
I hear they went remote 100% after I left.