As more workers head back to the office, they’re finding that their boss isn’t in.
Non-executive employees are nearly twice as likely as executives to be working from the office five days a week, according to a recent report by Future Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting Group, MillerKnoll and Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) to help companies navigate the digital-first workplace.
How we work has changed and the idea that a workplace must be contained in an office building has yielded to the notion that work is a mindset, not tied to any one location. The latest research tells us that people’s priorities for living and working are different, and flexible working is more important than being in a centralized location.
Research by the University of Hertfordshire, BritainThinks and the TUC has found that the number of people working in the ‘gig’ economy has nearly tripled over the last five years, reaching 4.4 million across England and Wales.
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Following the Great Resignation, the job market is hot. Should workers constantly keep a wandering eye for their next opportunity, even if they’re not necessarily itching to leave?
The unemployment rate dropped below 4 percent this spring, a rate not seen since the year 2000. That gives workers something they haven’t had in quite a while: options.
While the great recession of 2007–2010 tethered employees to specific jobs, industries, and employers, today’s expanding economy affords those employees the power to choose exactly where they want to live and work. The most innovative companies have discovered that location data can be a critical asset in attracting and retaining top talent.
From Parks and Recreation to Mad Men and of course, The Office, it’s no coincidence that some of the most iconic pieces of pop culture are presented in workplaces. Offices are central to not just our jobs but also to our relationships and aspirations. However, there’s no doubt the pandemic has transformed companies’ and their employees’ relationship to offices for the years and decades to come.
As remote and hybrid work setups become more and more common with companies, some workers are finding that being flexible in working outside of their normal office space may be an amenity for employees. Airbnb has released a survey of 7,500 consumers in five countries detailing what workers are desiring most as companies adjust their in-office policies.
In recent research reported by BambooHR, those work-from-home employees who have been asked to return to the company office are disappointed in what they’re finding. In a survey of 1,000 adult workers, 37 percent said “they felt worse in the office than even at their lowest point in the pandemic.” What were returning employees hoping for and what did they get instead? The responses highlighted three specific expectations:
