Nearly five years on from the start of the pandemic, and it seems as though the great remote working debate is no closer to coming to any sort of conclusion.
In fact, several companies have been clawing back in-office attendance in the form of RTO (return-to-office) mandates, and ultimatums that those who remain working remotely won’t be eligible for promotion.
Amazon has stipulated that all employees must return to the office for a full five days, while IT giant Dell has stipulated that all its U.S. employees must choose between hybrid or remote work. Those who choose to stay working remotely won’t be eligible for promotions or role changes.
Amazon and Dell aren’t outliers either—a KPMG survey found that 64% of global CEOs think everyone will be back in the office by 2026.
However, a November 2024 report from WFH Research has found that where you live and not who you work for could be the deciding factor when it comes to remote work.
Data surrounding office occupancy across major U.S. cities shows that on average, 50 percent of office seats are occupied and some cities in the South have more employees working in person compared to the Northeast, Silicon Valley, and Washington D.C..
It also established that some industries and sectors have a more flexible approach than others, with those working within finance and insurance working 2.38 days at home per week, on average.
This is followed by tech workers who spend 2.32 days working from home, followed by those working in the arts and entertainment (1.94 days), professional and business services (1.91 days), and wholesale trade (1.75 days).
Expensive real estate lying empty is undoubtedly one reason why business leaders are aiming to get employees back into the office, but is there any real merit to forcing people out of their home office and into a communal office space?
In a memo to staff, Dell stipulated that employees were being called back to the office in the name of productivity gains. ”To harness this energy and grow skills, we believe our sales teams need to be together in the office [...] Additionally, our data shows that sales teams are more productive when onsite."
Amazon has cited similar reasons so that the company is "better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other".
However, analysis from Brookings Institute has found that workforce participation for women between the ages of 25 and 54 is at an all-time high in the U.S..
The largest cohort in this group is women with children under the age of five who work from home all or part of the week, highlighting the benefit remote work offers those who don’t want to choose between a career and caregiving responsibilities.
And academic research from the University of Pittsburgh has found that the traditional office setting is no better for promoting productivity than someone’s kitchen table.
A recent study from International Workplace Group (IWG) and Mortar Research backs this up, finding that hybrid employees are happier, healthier, and more productive than those who work in-office every day.
Perhaps more companies could take a leaf out of Spotify’s business playbook. The streaming platform, which initiated a ‘work from anywhere’ policy in 2021 has come out fighting in favour of remote work.
“You can’t spend a lot of time hiring grown-ups and then treat them like children”, says its head of HR, Katarina Berg.
“We are a business that’s been digital from birth, so why shouldn’t we give our people flexibility and freedom? Work is not a place you come to, it’s something you do.”
