New data has revealed that while 70% of workers want to return to the office, only 6% wish to do so full-time.
Research Without Borders carried out a survey of 1,010 UK employees on behalf of performance management software Clear Review, and found that 60% would like their employer to come up with a clear hybrid working policy. In addition, 46% would consider looking for new jobs if this was not put into place.
The findings highlighted that 50% of respondents wanted to spend no more than half the week in the office, 20% were happy to spend between 60% and 80% of their time at work and nearly a quarter (24%) wished to spend between 80% and 90% at home.
The most popular reason for returning to the office was social interaction, with 49% highlighting it as the main reason and 37% citing collaborative working as important.
Nick Gallimore, director of talent transformation at Clear Review, commented that the demand for hybrid working means that how businesses approach new working models will transform their employer brand, and that they need to listen, understand and strike a balance between employee wants and business needs.
He explained that if employers get it right, they will be in a “strong” position to retain and attract top talent, but if they get it wrong and implement “draconian” return-to-work policies risk disengaging existing staff and making it harder to recruit.
“Onboarding a new employee or training is entirely possible remotely, but the likelihood is that it would be better done in person. Empowering employees and managers to determine how and where to best deliver relevant tasks brings meaning to planning hybrid work. Imagine a simple policy: do the task wherever and whenever it can be done best, which is far more helpful and useful than arbitrary rules such as be in the office x days per week,” Gallimore added.
