After three years of haphazard plans for getting workers back at their desks, the return-to-office movement has entered a phase of remorse.
A whopping 80% of bosses regret their initial return-to-office decisions and say they would have approached their plans differently if they had a better understanding of what their employees wanted, according to new research from Envoy.
“Many companies are realizing they could have been a lot more measured in their approach, rather than making big, bold, very controversial decisions based on executives’ opinions rather than employee data,” Larry Gadea, Envoy’s CEO and founder, tells CNBC Make It.
Envoy interviewed more than 1,000 U.S. company executives and workplace managers who work in-person at least one day per week.
Some leaders lamented the challenge of measuring the success of in-office policies, while others said it’s been hard to make long-term real estate investments without knowing how employees might feel about being in the office weeks, or even months, from now.
Kathy Kacher, a consultant who advises corporate executives on their return-to-office plans, is surprised the percentage isn’t higher.
“Many organizations that attempted to force a return to the office have had to retract or change their plans because of employee pushback, and now, they don’t look strong,” says Kacher, the president of Career/Life Alliance Services. “A lot of executives have egg on their faces and they’re sad about that.”
The ‘great resignation’ to the ‘great regret’
As some business leaders accept hybrid work as a permanent reality, others are backtracking on earlier pledges to let employees work from home on a full or part-time basis.
As of July, 59% of full-time employees are back to being 100% on-site, while 29% are in a hybrid arrangement and 12% are completely remote, according to new data from WFH Research. Offices are still only half full compared to their pre-pandemic occupancy.
Across industries, major corporations including Disney, Starbucks and BlackRock are requiring employees to spend more time at the office, with executives often citing the need for more in-person collaboration.
Zoom is the latest to reverse course, telling employees who live within a
