Amidst ongoing pandemic, trying to get back to “normal”, and trying to balance where we all fit into the “new normal”, it appears that there are some things that will never be the same. For better or worse, some changes brought on by our attempts to “flatten the curve” are here to stay, such as remote, hybrid and in-office.
In just one year, the number of Americans working from home grew by 3x, and at least that change seems to be one that we’re taking pretty well. At some point during the height of the pandemic, 95% of all office employees switched to working from home or other remote locations. Now, in year two, 97% of office employees say they want to stay remote.
Remote employees have been able to embrace the perks of remote work such as flexibility, no commuting, and increased productivity. For these, and other reasons, only 3% would prefer going back to the office full time, while 61% would prefer to never set foot back in the office.
Fortunately for employees and their employers, this is a win-win situation. If every employee works remotely just 2-3 days per week, companies stand to save 11 thousand dollars for each one of them. Employers are saving on office costs, they’re lower rates of turnover, and increased productivity. Many employees would even agree to a small pay decrease to hang on to the opportunity to work from home.
Nevertheless, there are still some who prefer being in the office at least some of the time, and some businesses still have need for office employees for certain things. The solution to this is the hybrid work model. These hybrids could come in many forms that suit both them and the company they work for. For instance, the hybrid model could be fully flexible, where employees get to choose their location on any given day. It could be “centralized remote” where the majority work remotely, but high level executives are still in the office. It could also be “office occasional” where employees spend the majority of their time away from the office, but are expected to make an appearance a couple of times a week.
There are many different models companies and their employees could choose from to make hybrid work models work for them.
