Nearly four years on from the start of the pandemic and the remote ways of working we adopted as a response to global lockdowns remain.
However, attitudes to remote work are changing and the seismic shift and resultant redefinition of the traditional workplace has produced much debate between those who support remote working practices and those who are against them.
Much of the discourse is chiefly centred around whether workers are more or less productive when working from home, and companies including Google, Amazon and Disney have tightened their in-office rules during the course of 2023 to ensure office spaces aren’t lying empty.
This is despite the fact that various studies clearly prove that flexibility around work location leads to increased productivity, greater wellbeing and work-life balance and a more engaged workforce.
And yet. For some employers, physical presence is still the barometer by which they define commitment to the job.
In fact, proximity bias—whereby those in management or leadership positions subconsciously show favouritism to those who work in close physical proximity over staff working remotely—continues to plague workplaces.
Recent research by Envoy found an overwhelming majority of UK business leaders (a stark 94%) take more notice of their employees’ work contributions when they are in the office versus when they work from home.
In the US, proximity bias has led to a new workplace trend known as “coffee badging” where hybrid workers show face at the office for a short period to time before leaving to work from home for the rest of the day. Over half (58%) of hybrid workers admit to coffee badging to get around return to office orders and 8% say they haven’t attempted coffee badging, but would like to.
“81% said they would quit their current position if their employer didn’t allow remote work”
The chasm between employer and employee
This discord between employers and employees corresponds with a poll we recently ran to establish current attitudes towards hybrid and remote work.
Unstructured hybrid, in which employees choose their own in-office days, is proving to be the most popular model (67%) with only 33% of respondents adhering to a structured hybrid model with set in-office days.
Additionally, an overwhelming majority of respondents shared that they are most productive when working from home (86%) and 81% said they would quit their current position if their employer didn’t allow remote work.
However, if the price was right and employers offered to increase their salary, 67% would return to the office in a full time capacity, five days per week.
We also asked our participants to detail why they liked working from home. No commute was ranked as the best part about working from home (47%) followed by getting more work done (40%).
We also asked those taking part to reveal the employee benefits and perks that might entice them back to the office and subsidised childcare proved to be the most popular choice at 36%.
This was followed by health and wellness initiatives including a gym or yoga membership or massages (29%), having their own office (21%) and free meals and snacks (14%).
Find out more
If you want to know more about the state of remote and hybrid work in 2023, our partner Tech HQ us looking at the tech and rewards encouraging workers back to the office, Science Times is detailing the companies that provide the most flexible working arrangements, while Hackernoon is highlighting one of the latest remote working trends that has been uncovered: “polyworking”.
Or if you’re a publisher and would like to get similar work-related content on your own website, plus maximise your revenue, contact us today.
