This is shaping up to be the year that thousands of U.S. workers will need to put away their soft pants and return to the office—at least for a couple of days a week.
A summer 2024 survey of chief executive officers by accounting firm KPMG found a sharp turnaround in views toward remote work. More than three-fourths of CEOs expect employees to return to a traditional in-office schedule within three years. Earlier in 2024, only one-third of CEOs predicted a return to an in-office model. Only 17 percent of CEOs expect their employees to have a hybrid schedule, and just 4 percent expect their employees to be fully remote, according to the summer survey.
The news isn’t all bad for the comfy-pants crowd. Eighty-six percent of CEOs said they would reward employees who return to the office with favorable assignments, raises and promotions. And research by the Flex Index, a technology research firm based in San Francisco, found that while the number of companies that allow a fully flexible workforce has declined since 2023, the percentage of companies that use a hybrid model increased in 2024.
Employers’ willingness to allow their employees to work from home, at least some of the time, also varies significantly by industry, according to research by Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, who has studied remote work for more than two decades. Workers in the technology and finance industry, for example, work from home an average of 2.39 days a week, while workers in the hospitality, transportation, and retail industry work from home less than one day a week, according to Bloom’s research.
What workers want. Companies that mandate a return to the office face pushback from employees who place a high value on a flexible work schedule. A 2024 workplace benefits survey by Charles Schwab found that many workers say having a flexible work schedule is an important benefit, particularly for younger workers. Fifty-seven percent of workers said they would forgo anywhere from 5 percent to 15 percent of a salary increase in exchange for a more flexible work arrangement. The survey also found that the ability to work from home was a must-have benefit for 27 percent of men and 36 percent of women, and more than half of Generation Z workers and 46 percent of millennials viewed flexibility in work hours and location as an essential benefit.
A survey by Payscale, a compensation consulting and research firm, found that more than 60 percent of companies with return-to-office mandates have encountered resistance from their employees. Payscale’s research also revealed that providing flexible work arrangements can help companies attract and retain talent. Payscale discovered, for example, that companies with remote work environments have much lower turnover than those with traditional office hours or even hybrid work arrangements.
Lexi Clarke, chief people officer at Payscale, says the company went fully remote in fall 2022 but provides coworking spaces in Seattle, Boston and Denver, where most of its employees are located. The coworking offices provide a way for managers to meet with their teams and give employees an alternative if they’d prefer to work in an office, she says. “We use remote work as a lever to help us find the best talent,” she adds.
Employees who want to maintain a remote or hybrid work schedule should talk to their employers about ways in which a flexible work environment improves their productivity, Clarke says. Research supports that position. A survey of productivity growth between 2019 and 2022 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that remote work increased productivity in 61 business sectors. A big reason is that those employees no longer spent time and money commuting to the office.
“I’ve enjoyed working remotely,” Clarke says. “From 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., it’s just me and my coffee.”
