Surprising no one but the mgmt teams…
Unispace found that nearly half (42%) of companies with return-to-office mandates witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated. And almost a third (29%) of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. In other words, employers knew the mandates would cause some attrition, but they weren’t ready for the serious problems that would result.
Meanwhile, a staggering 76% of employees stand ready to jump ship if their companies decide to pull the plug on flexible work schedules, according to the Greenhouse report. Moreover, employees from historically underrepresented groups are 22% more likely to consider other options if flexibility comes to an end.
In the SHED survey, the gravity of this situation becomes more evident. The survey equates the displeasure of shifting from a flexible work model to a traditional one to that of experiencing a 2% to 3% pay cut.
Traveling has become rather cost-effective. It’s alright if it gets covered but what really should get covered is the time it takes to travel. I live relatively close to work, but if I went to office that’s an extra 1-2 hours a day I spend specifically for work purposes. The cost of time, at least for me, is significantly higher than the actual cost of travel.
It seems like some people are finally starting to wise up to the fact that work begins not when you arrive at the workplace, but the moment you stop doing what you want to do and start doing what you have to do in order to perform the job. That means it starts before you walk out the door, as soon as you start ‘getting ready for work’.
The simplest metric is this: would you be doing it if you were on vacation/weren’t working? If yes, then it’s not work. If no, then it’s work.
This is how those “I work 12 hour days” CEOs used to do the math too. Only fair in my eyes.