Judging by the growing number of high-profile CEOs enforcing return-to-office requirements, remote and hybrid work seems destined to decline, while fully in-person work increases. But a new survey shows that most U.S. executives expect the opposite.
according to Newest Executives expect 72.6 percent of their full-time workforce to be fully in-person by 2028, up from 75.7 percent today, according to the Business Uncertainty Survey, conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of Chicago and Stanford Universities. This has decreased from 91.6% in 2018. Speaking of mix, they expect 16.3% of full-time employees to fall into this category within 5 years, up from 14.1% today and just 4.1% in 2018. As for fully virtual/remote, respondents said they expect 11.2 percent of their full-time workforce to fit this description by 2028, up from 10.2 percent today and just 4.3 percent in 2018.
“Perhaps the best evidence is that #WFH “That’s what CEOs and CFOs are saying,” said Nick Bloom, a remote work expert at Stanford University and a researcher who took part in the survey. Posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) this week, referring to working from home.
Back to Office Push
In general, U.S. executives do not expect to return to pre-pandemic office life. Still, many high-profile companies are cracking down on remote work and insisting on a full-blown return to the office, something employees are resisting despite their reluctance to give up flexibility.
Goldman Sachs recently began a new push to enforce a five-day work-in-the-office policy, and the company’s leadership has been frustrated that a large proportion of employees are not showing up to work as instructed.
JPMorgan has asked its top bankers to work in the office five days a week, CEO Jamie Dimon said warning about Disadvantages of long-term remote work.
Venture capitalist Paul Graham, co-founder of Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, said in June that remote work “really worked at first,” which is why it “fooled” leaders but then “changed.” got an idea”.
“I’ve talked to a number of founders recently who are changing their minds about remote work and trying to get people back into the office,” he said. tweet. “I doubt things will go back to exactly how they were before Covid-19, but it looks like it’s mostly going to be.”
At Amazon, where employees are required to come to the office three days a week, CEO Andy Jassy recently issued a challenge, warning employees in a recording get By Insider: “Now is not the time to disagree and commit. If you can’t disagree and commit, I understand that too, but it probably isn’t for you at Amazon since we’re back in the office at least three days a week, It’s not for all of us teammates three days a week, but people are refusing to do that.”
Bet on remote work
However, examples abound of company leaders bucking the RTO trend or betting that all-in-office work will continue to decline.
Zapier, whose software helps users work across applications in an integrated fashion, has grown to be valued at $5 billion as a fully remote company since its founding in 2012 (long before the pandemic hit). Its chief executive, Wade Foster, believes that start-ups that should be focusing on product-market fit end up facing unnecessary disruptions, chief among them office leasing. He also believes that working remotely allows companies to tap into a larger talent pool.
Pret A Manger chief executive Pano Christou is skeptical of the requirement to return to the office and believes the trend of remote working will continue. His coffee and sandwich chain is now expanding into the suburbs, targeting remote workers.
Scott Farquhar, the billionaire chief executive of Atlassian, a company that provides tools for software developers and project managers, recently said he only comes into the office “about once a quarter.” His company, which has a market capitalization of approximately $49 billion, launched the Team Anywhere policy in 2020 and has stuck to it. He argues that flexible working gives employees the option to live in less expensive places to cope with rising cost of living pressures without worrying that it will affect their jobs.
Firstbase CEO Chris Herd, whose software company helps companies set up, manage and retrieve devices for remote workers, recently tweet: “Companies that enable work from anywhere will replace all companies that don’t.” He likens the modern office to a “distraction factory” persist in Remote work is where you “focus on your work and produce results without distractions.”
This month, New York Mayor Eric Adams largely acknowledged the failure of remote work when he announced a plan to convert vacant office buildings across the city into homes.
“We’re in a different normal,” he said. “Everything has changed and we have to be willing to change with it.”
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