Dont Let Employees Pick Their WFH Days

As we move into the next phase of the pandemic, companies are grappling with whether and how to bring their employees back into the office after working from home extensively. According to multiple surveys, most people want a mix of in-person https://remotemode.net/ and remote work, and some have said they would leave their jobs if not given that option. It isn’t just about schedules and office space — leaders need to consider inclusion, performance measurement, trust, cybersecurity, and more.

• The past year of COVID-19 variants has thrown a wrench in the return-to-office plan for many organizations.
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• Nearly half of employees state they would come into work on some or all of the days their manager does, even if it goes against their employer’s hybrid working plan.
• Organizations will need to decide their hybrid or work from home option at both a company and team level.
• It sets clear boundaries, brings accountability and enables total work flexibility.
• About four in 10 employees say they want full autonomy to come and go as they wish, and six in 10 want more structure.

Owl Labs’ 2021 State of Remote Work revealed 90% of employees report the same, or higher, productivity levels working from home compared to the office, as well as 55% of respondents are working longer hours remotely. Meanwhile, Gallup’s research confirms that hybrid workers have a slight edge in terms of productivity. Today, more than two years after the first lockdowns, the debate about which work model is the most effective has tapered.

Home vs office: What is the best hybrid work mix for workers?

The 2022 results are based on a Gallup Panel survey conducted Feb. 3-14, with a random sample of 7,762 adults working full time for an employer. For results based on this sample, the margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The past year of COVID-19 variants has thrown a wrench in the return-to-office plan for many organizations. What was expected to be a mass migration back to the office in September of 2021 quickly halted as employers extended their work-from-home policies indefinitely into another miserable pandemic winter. As spring approaches, employees and employers once again are preparing for what their new office environment will look like.

• Nonetheless, employees’ preferences on office hours will be an important metric to watch as workplaces transition and adjust to hybrid work.
• And while findings on productivity are mixed, there’s evidence that fully remote workers encounter more friction when trying to convey information quickly.
• After making remote work possible for millions of people, Zoom is now telling some of its own employees to show up in person, in what the company is calling a structured hybrid approach.
• Commuting doesn’t only cost companies money, it costs them productivity in the form of unhappy employees.
• With her unemployment soon running out, she’s starting to consider in-person jobs, even teaching — but only as a substitute, where she’d retain some control over her schedule.
• Hybrid models can be the best of both worlds, but they’re not for every company.
• Employees who live within 50 miles of an office are expected to work from that office twice a week.

A staggering 62 percent are willing to accept a pay cut of 10 percent or more for greater work flexibility. Respondents said the flexibility creates a positive impact on productivity, work-life balance and company loyalty. As a business owner or manager, you don’t have to choose between a row of cubicles or a completely open-concept office. Instead, a happy medium between the two with some areas of hot desking and some private rooms is your best option to accommodate hybrid workers. While an open-concept office draws in many employees who prefer remote work, it’s not always practical. Instead of a completely open office space, offer several private spaces where employees can take calls, have private meetings and work in silence when they need to focus.

Hybrid work best practices and how to adopt a hybrid work model

The report also delves into the trend of “coffee badging”—the act of briefly showing up at the office before heading out (a professional cameo, if you will). About 58 percent of hybrid employees hybrid work from home admit coffee badging to “show face.” In fact, if workers were no longer able to work flexibly, one in three said they would start looking for a new job, according to the data.