Report: 9 in 10 companies will require return to office by 2023

Dive Brief:

Ninety percent of companies said they will require employees to return to the office at least part of the week in 2023, according to a Sept. 26 report from Resume Builder. A fifth said they will fire workers who do not return.
For companies currently functioning under a hybrid work policy, 77% said that policy will change in the next year. While fewer than one-fifth said they will require employees to be full time in the office, 40% said they will require workers to come in four days a week and 31% said three days a week.
Notably, nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed said they still intend to hire remote workers in the future.

Dive Insight:

The return-to-office battle remains a key point of contention between workers and employers, particularly as a potential recession looms. For example: GM announced Sept. 23 that employees would be required to return to the office; by Tuesday, following backlash from employees, the company walked back the announcement, delaying a full return and clarifying the policy, CNBC reported.

And in Monster survey results released Sept. 26, 40% of workers surveyed said they would quit if they were forced to return to the office even one day a week.

“I believe some of this is generational,” Stacie Haller, career strategist and job search coach, said in the Resume Lab blog post. “Older managers are not used to working with a remote team and hold prejudices and have outdated ideas about work culture. If these return-to-office decisions were in the hands of younger managers, who are more accustomed to working remotely, I think we’d see less companies shifting back to an in-office culture.”

Employers that require workers to return to office could make employees feel they aren’t trusted to do the work they’ve been doing since the pandemic began, one expert previously told HR Dive. In response, employees push back or, in dire cases, quit entirely.

Employers may be concerned about the loss of company culture due to remote work or worried about retention, particularly for younger employees who may desire an in-office experience. One source said that employers should be sure to ask themselves which problem they want to solve with a return to office. Another report from Myers-Briggs said employers should ask workers what they want as far as work arrangements go.