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Many workers hate returning to the office five days a week and would quit their jobs if asked to come full time.
At that point, 46% of workers who currently work from home at least some of the time would be somewhat likely to continue working if their employer eliminated remote work, according to a recent poll by Pew Research Center. , or very low.
But employers are discouraging remote work.
As of October 2024, about 75% of workers were required to report to an office a certain number of days per week or month, compared to 63% in February 2023, according to Pew research.
Kim Parker, director of social trends research at the Pew Research Center, said return-to-office policies are “creeping up.”
Companies including Amazon, AT&T, Boeing, Dell Technologies, JPMorgan Chase, UPS and the Washington Post have brought at least some employees back to the office five days a week. President Donald Trump signed an executive action Monday calling on federal workers to return to their desks “as soon as possible.”
Similar to the Pew survey, a poll conducted by Bamboo HR found that 28% of employees said they would consider leaving their jobs due to a return-to-office mandate.
The data “highlights how accustomed people are to this arrangement and how it really fits into their lifestyles,” Parker said.
According to Parker, workers consistently cite improved work-life balance as a “huge benefit” of remote work.
In fact, they believe the economic value of hybrid work is equivalent to an 8% pay raise, according to a study by Stanford University economics professor and workplace management researcher Nick Bloom.
Economists say remote work is here to stay
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Many economists believe that the increased prevalence of remote work compared to before the pandemic has become an established feature of the U.S. labor market.
“Remote work is not going away,” Bloom previously told CNBC.
The main reason for this is that companies’ profits will increase, workers will leave less frequently, and employers will save on hiring and other operational costs associated with downsizing, Bloom said. said. Meanwhile, he said the data shows that productivity does not decrease with hybrid working arrangements.
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According to WFH Research, a project jointly run by researchers from MIT and Stanford University, more than 60% of full paid work hours were performed remotely in early 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is up from less than 10% before the pandemic. University of Chicago and Autonomous Polytechnic University of Mexico.
Its share has fallen by more than half. However, data from WFH Research shows that it has remained flat at between 25% and 30% for about two years.
According to ZipRecruiter research, approximately 31% of employers will reduce remote work opportunities in 2024, down from 43% in 2023. But an additional 33% have expanded their remote work, up from 32% a year ago.
According to ZipRecruiter, companies with RTO requirements have a 13% higher annual turnover rate than companies that are “more supportive” of remote work.
According to a 2024 poll of 10,000 workers in the US, UK, Brazil, Middle East, Australia, and India conducted by consulting firm Korn Ferry, “the ability to work from anywhere remains an option for many professionals. It’s a top priority.”
Companies may want employees to resign
Experts say some companies are forcing employees to return to the office simply because they want them to leave. They said it was a covert way to cut staff without making explicit cuts.
“If we require federal employees to work five days a week, we will see a wave of voluntary resignations, which we welcome,” Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami, whom President Trump nominated to lead the new Office of Government Efficiency, said in November. I wrote this in an editorial. (Mr. Ramaswamy has since resigned from that role.)
Of course, there are tradeoffs to remote work for companies and workers.
According to ZipRecruiter, approximately 59% of employers cite concerns that remote work will harm company culture.
Nearly half (53%) of workers who work from home at least part-time say their ability to feel connected to co-workers is “impaired,” according to a 2023 Pew poll. It became clear.
“This is one of the major shortcomings that we consistently see,” Parker said.
“It seems like a trade-off: You get work-life balance, but you lose some connection with your co-workers,” Parker says.
Even if employees quit, they may not be able to find a job.
Economists say the labor market remains strong, with low levels of unemployment and layoffs, giving workers good job security. However, companies are also refraining from hiring, creating a difficult environment for job seekers.
