Bosses don't follow their own rules back to the office

(Bloomberg) The bosses are committed to getting staff back to the office. Only the rules don't necessarily apply to them.

While 35% of non-executive employees are in the office five days a week, only 19% of executives can say the same thing, according to a survey conducted by Future Forum, a research consortium supported by the Slack messaging channel. Of the percentage of employees who move to work, more than half say they would like to have at least some flexibility, and non-executive workers generally say that work-life balance is much worse than that of their bosses.

Moreover, the disparity is increasing. In the fourth quarter of 2021, non-executive employees were approximately 1.3 times more likely than their bosses to be completely in the office. Now, the probability is almost twice as high, and the proportion of non-executives working from the office five days a week is the highest since the survey began in June 2020, according to the more than 10,000 administrative workers surveyed in the United States, Australia and France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom

The gap points to a double standard in back-to-office messaging: executives, from Bank of America Corp. to Alphabet Inc.'s Google, urge their workers to return in part to increase face-to-face collaboration, but the bosses themselves are somewhat exempt. Companies are also trying to justify long-term office leases or state-of-the-art locations like Apple Park in Cupertino, California.

According to the survey, workers who are dissatisfied with their flexibility are now three times more likely to say that they will “definitely” look for a new job next year. It also showed that the sense of work-life balance decreased twice as much for full-time office workers compared to those with flexible hours. “Top-down mandates usually don't work,” said Brian Elliott, executive director of Future Forum.

In addition to improving workers' mental health, offering more choice can also boost diversity, equity and inclusion. About 82% of Asian/Asian Americans and 79% of Black respondents would prefer a hybrid or fully remote work agreement, compared to 77% of white respondents. Women and working mothers expressed their desire for flexibility in location more than ever as childcare costs continue to rise.

As the back-to-office policy debate evolves, Future Forum recommends flexible schedules and location to retain top talent, even if it means breaking cultural traditions and developing new workflows. “People being in the office gives the illusion of control, but it's just an illusion,” Elliot said. “It doesn't mean they're being productive.”

Original Note:

Bosses Don't Follow Their Own Advice in Returning to the Office

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