How many workers are refusing to go back to the office?

While many employers are keen to get people back to the office, many employees are pushing back.

That’s the finding of a recent survey by FlexJobs that found one in five (19 per cent) respondents are not complying with requests to return to the office.

Compliance is broken down as this:

• ​​Everyone is back in the office as required (43 per cent)
• A majority of people are back in the office as required (38 per cent)
• A majority of people are not complying with requests to return to the office (15 per cent)
• No one is complying with requests to return to the office (4 per cent)

Read more: Moonlighting in spotlight with return to office

However, there are many employers (48 per cent) that are maintaining some form of remote work for their workforce, finds the FlexJobs survey of more than 2,000 professionals in July.

When asked about their employer’s post-pandemic workplace plans, 37 per cent of respondents say their employer will follow a full-time office model, followed by:

• hybrid (26 per cent)
• remote (22 per cent)
• unsure (15 per cent)

Remote work ‘not the panacea expected’

While remote working is undoubtedly popular with workers, it is perhaps not the panacea that was expected, according to a recent KPMG survey of more than 2,250 employees in the U.S.

Currently, 55 per cent work fully or mostly in the office/on premise, while 45 per cent are fully or partially remote.

Read more: Easing the return to the workplace

And while 26 per cent want to work remotely all of the time, 27 per cent say they prefer to work fully in the office/on premise, 23 per cent prefer to work mostly in the office/on premise with some remote work, and 23 percent want mostly remote work with some office/on-premise time.

“It is clear that remote working is important to many, but so is the opportunity to engage in an in-office/on-premise experience,” says the KPMG report Looking for more.

“What this means as an employer is that you need to truly understand your specific workforce demographics and needs in relation to remote work. Then, you need to build strategies to meet those needs, while also meeting business objectives.”