Workers are Resisting Calls to Return to Offices

America's return-to-office has been a "lagging return," reports the Washington Post:Even with millions of workers across the country being asked to return to their cubicles, office occupancy has been relatively static for the past year. The country's top 10 metropolitan areas averaged 47.2 percent of pre-pandemic levels last week, according to data from Kastle Systems. This time last year, the average was around 44 percent.... About 52 percent of remote-capable U.S. workers are operating under hybrid arrangements, according to data from Gallup, while 29 percent are exclusively remote. And though executives like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg have argued that the rise of flexible work has had a deleterious effect on productivity, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that labor productivity rose 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2023 and is up 1.3 percent compared to this time last year. While employers cite the collaborative benefits of spending time together in person, the majority of hybrid arrangements aren't fostering the connections bosses want to see, according to Rob Cross, associate professor of management at Babson College who studies collaboration across various companies through surveys, email and meeting data. He's found that mandates for a certain number of days in office are missing the mark, "because you're not getting the right people who need to collaborate... What we're seeing that's more successful is when companies are using some form of analytics" to determine which workers need to come in on the same days, Cross said. He estimates that only about 5 percent of organizations are taking this approach. "Leaders are just saying, 'We need water-cooler moments,' " Cross said. "They're not looking and saying, 'These are the interactions we need to stimulate.' " But the article argues that "After more than two years of trying to coax workers back into offices, bosses are losing their patience... Even tech companies that were once champions of remote work are changing their tune." The article cites return-to-office policies at Zoom, Meta, and Amazon, arguing that "Employers have new leverage as the labor market has cooled, leaving workers less room to be choosy..."The days of enticing employees with free food, laundry services and yoga classes are largely over. Now, executives are resorting to threats - and it's forcing some workers to decide whether they're willing to give up the flexibility they've gotten used to... "The pendulum has shifted from employees having all the power," said Matt Cohen, founder and managing partner of Ripple Ventures, a venture fund in Toronto that works with early stage companies across North America. The bulk of start-up founders he works with are requiring employees to be in offices a few days a week, although there's pushback. "During the pandemic, a lot of salespeople were taking calls from the top of mountains on hiking trips," Cohen said. "That's not working anymore...." [R]emote work is becoming harder to find. Roughly 8 percent of all job postings now advertise remote or hybrid work, according to Nick Bunker, director of North American economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab. That's down from 9.7 percent last year, he said, but still up significantly over pre-pandemic levels. The workplace software company HqO's chief executive says workers are after "elevated experiences they can't get at home". Their data shows workers attracted by free food, high-quality tools, and attractive workspaces - but "The number one thing people want out of a workplace is concentration space..You're not going to get them into a place just built for social interaction. You've got to be able to concentrate...." But the CEO of PR software company Muck Rack says going fully remote benefited their workers - both their well-being and their productivity. "I hope more people see the potential here and don't just go along with the return-to-office narrative.

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