OCTOBER 12, 2022

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Returning to the Office: The Current, Preferred and Future State of Remote Work

The "Great Global Work-From-Home Experiment" created by the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we work and expect to work far into the future.

• Case in point: Approximately 56% of full-time employees in the U.S. -- more than 70 million workers -- say their job can be done working remotely from home. We call them "remote-capable employees."

• Current work location for remote-capable workers as of June 2022:
• five in 10 are working hybrid (part of their week at home and part on-site)
• three in 10 are exclusively working remotely
• two in 10 are entirely on-site

Where do remote-capable employees expect to work long term and where would they prefer to work?

Hybrid work has increased in 2022 (from 42% in February to 49% in June) and is expected to further increase to 55% of remote-capable workers by the end of 2022 and beyond.

• This shift aligns closely with the preferences of many remote-capable workers, as 60% want a long-term hybrid work arrangement.

Fully remote work arrangements are expected to continue decreasing from three in 10 remote-capable employees in June, down to two in 10 for the long term, despite 34% wanting to permanently work from home.

Snippets

Tesla orders employees back, well you can work from home all you want if you've already put in 40 hours for the week. Thanks, Elon.

Less office traffic = worse traffic, why hybrid work schedules have made some commutes worse.

Bosses are winning the return-to-office battle. In the constant tug-of-war of the office return, it seems that bosses are back with the upper hand.

Let them eat Subway... one comment by a Health Canada manager urging employees to return to the office, in part, to provide employees at a nearby Subway restaurant with more hours, blew up into a series of sarcastic memes online.

A return-to-office showdown experts say could end a years-long experiment in flexible, remote work -- or spark a sweeping worker revolt.

OfficeTok

New York City-based TikToker Lo Hilton (@hilton.lo) posted a clip that’s been shared over 2,000 times and racked up over 36,000 likes on the popular social media platform. It also launched a discussion about the “uselessness” of businesses forcing employees to come into mostly empty workplaces to do their jobs post-pandemic.

Office design of the week

Can I live there?

Those chairs, lights and windows! It feels more like home than well home. And cleaner too. How many people would go to the office if the office if it felt more comfortable than your own home. That's a high bar but maybe it's worth it?

Thanks to Company Co for the submission. Oh and they're hiring!

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