Employees are not eager to return to the office, but that does not necessarily mean they want to work from home permanently.
Data has revealed that the best way to accommodate the evolving needs of employees is to offer a work week that is split between both the office and home. Surveys have found that this arrangement is ideal for employees and employers in order to reap the benefits of both, without the negative repercussions they can carry.
“You should never be thinking about full time or zero time,” said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford. “I’m a firm believer in post-Covid half time in the office.”
A survey from Morning Consult found that 47% of remote workers said that when it’s safe to return to work, they would prefer to still work from home at least one to four days a week. Additionally, the survey conducted June 16 to 20 found that two-thirds of respondents enjoyed working from home.
The Survey of Business Uncertainty from the Atlanta Fed, Stanford and the University of Chicago also found that once the dust has settled, 27% of their full-time workers will continue working from home for at least a portion of the week.
Despite past experiments failing due to lack of accountability, resources and tools have just recently been improved to make remote working a more seamless experience.