If they haven’t outright told you to come back to the office, companies are slowly starting to hint and entice you to start coming back slowly and methodically. It could come in the form of a team lunch invite, your boss casually going to the office and suggests to meet at the office, a company wide event…etc. They start providing perks like parking if there wasn’t before, a spanking new coffee machine, free snacks, free food or other types of perks.
There are many reasons companies are pushing for people to come back to the office, some are financial, some are executive and some are operational. Regardless of the reasons, employees are defying these orders to return to the office and the companies aren’t doing a thing about it.
If not entirely, employees are being asked to come in at least 2 to 3 times a week based on a hybrid model. A lot of companies are coming down hard on this policy with employees resisting coming in, in fact around 49% of employees in companies that are enforcing this policy do not comply. And there isnt much the companies are doing about it, with very few repercussions, very few employees were fired because of this.
Many employees find it easier to resign and find a job that provides remote work which at this time is much easier than before the pandemic, the nature of the pandemic has made companies adjust their work model and provide 100% remote work opportunities which in turn opened up the global job market as borders have become blurred between countries.
The great resignation crunch
Employers are turning a blind eye to the resistors, knowing if they push too hard, they could have a mass departure of employees to other opportunities. The labor market is not helping either, employers are in no position to lose their top talent. The current difficulty in finding talent currently is giving the employees the leverage to revolt.
Employees who prefer working from home are convinced that it is more productive, saving on commute time, more productive as they are less distracted, have a good work/life balance and overall are happier.
This isn’t to say that working from home is always better, some employees prefer having that routine of leaving the house and separating work from home life.
When companies are able to provide both options without enforcement and bias. Only then will companies reap the benefits.
Photo by fauxels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-brown-suit-jacket-3184339/