Ever since the pandemic and the end of lockdown in the U.S., remote work has been on the decline. The beginning of 2021 saw remote work hit its peak at 37% of households having at least one member working from home. Now, that number has plummeted to less than 26% of U.S. households. Even though the idea of remote work is popular amongst employees, it’s a frustrating topic for employers, with 43% of companies restricting their remote work policies over the last year. A recent survey from ZipRecruiter revealed that employers advocated for return-to-office (RTO) mandates due to increased difficulty in monitoring employees and mixed judgments on productivity levels. These conflicting perceptions have led to a sort of tug-of-war in the workforce. While more companies adopt stricter in-office work policies, they are also having to adapt to a national labor shortage. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are 1.5 million fewer Americans in the workforce today than there were in 2020. While RTO mandates are not causing this shortage, they are not appeasing the issue either.
Companies that prioritize bringing employees back into the office are allowing themselves to feed into one of the main reasons many Americans are not returning to work. One survey by the U.S. Chamber found that 27% of unemployed Americans specified their reasoning for not returning to work as needing to stay at home to care for children or other family members. Coupled with the increased lack of accessibility to reliable childcare, the reduced number of opportunities for remote work is further pushing these Americans away from the workforce. Many employers are aware of how in-office policies impede their recruitment efforts, and yet those policies remain in place. This begs the question: Do companies really lose more than they gain from remote work that they are willing to endure the ongoing battle with recruitment?
The defense for stricter in-office policies is that employees are the most productive when they are in the office, but that is not always the case. While there are employees who prefer to work in the office, many employees (mainly those from younger generations) feel more productive when working from home. According to a report from Owl Labs, millennials working remotely experience more productivity while boomers actually feel the least productive at home, with two-thirds of workers overall feeling more productive with remote work.
For those who want to work from home, their sentiments toward this more flexible work style are so strong that many are willing to leave their jobs if remote work is not an option. One survey of over 12,000 respondents found that the ability to work remotely led to up to 20% of an increase in happiness while returning to the office led to a decrease in happiness. The importance of happiness is not lost on management, as there has been a rising trend in promoting employee wellbeing, and for a good reason. When employees are happy, companies always stand to benefit. In fact, happiness has been found to lead to a 12% increase in productivity, while distress led to a 10% decrease. To put it simply, employees who work remotely are happier, leading to an overall more fulfilling life and more motivation to be productive at work.
Although research consistently reveals the benefits of remote work, many companies are still hesitant to keep remote work policies. One study from Microsoft noted remote employees experienced an increase in remote productivity, but 85% of leaders had a difficult time believing that to be the case.
No company is required to offer remote work to their employees. However, the statistics are clear: leaders stand to gain more than they would lose by offering remote work options. Not only that, but they will be more likely to attract talented and loyal employees during a national labor shortage.
