If you’ve become a remote worker in the past two years and aren’t eager to return to an office full time, you’re not alone.
According to results from a survey of more than 2,000 employed professionals conducted by FlexJobs, nearly one in five workers are not complying with requests from their employers to return to the office (RTO).
When asked what their company’s post-pandemic workplace plans will be:
- 26% of respondents say their employer will follow a hybrid model;
- 22% say they’ll be allowed to work remotely;
- 37% will be in the office full time; and
- 15% said they weren’t sure, or plans keep changing.
While 48% of employers are allowing some form of remote work for their workforce, either fully remote or hybrid, for the RTO group, 19% of respondents say that people are not complying with requests to return to the office.
Specifically, when asked if workers are complying with employer return-to-office plans, survey respondents said:
- Yes, everyone is back in the office as required (43%);
- Yes, most people are back in the office as required (38%);
- No, most people are not complying with requests to return to the office (15%); and
- No, no one is complying with requests to return to the office (4%).
Employee engagement is also poor, but whether a return to the office will help that or make workers more unhappy is up for debate.
- 51% of workers say they’re only “somewhat engaged” (42%) or “not at all engaged” (9%) at work;
- The rest of the workforce reports they are either very engaged (34%) or extremely engaged (15%);
- 42% report feeling either “pretty good” (33%) or “excellent” (9%) at work;
- 40% say they feel just “OK”; and
- Nearly one in five (18%) say they feel “pretty terrible” or “miserable.”
Ultimately, HR departments will likely have their hands full in the coming months trying to foster better relationships among co-workers and managers in order for employees to feel comfortable returning to the office.
- 82% of the survey respondents reported experiencing problems at work, including poor management, bullying, and burnout.
- Only 18% reported never having an issue needing to be brought up to their supervisor or HR.
- When asked if they were able to talk to their supervisor or HR about a solution after experiencing problems at work like burnout, poor management, or bullying, participants stated:
- Yes, I have brought up issues with my supervisor or HR, and we found a solution (22%);
- Yes, I have brought up issues with my supervisor or HR, but we could not find a solution (36%);
- No, I have had issues but have never brought them up with my supervisor or HR (24%); and
- I have never needed to bring up an issue with my supervisor or HR (18%).
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