Goodbye Zoom, Hello Commutes?

I recently did a Reddit AMA and someone asked me if I thought firms were shifting heavily back to in-office work. I’ve been seeing lots of movement on that front, but then a lot of firms I’m working with are increasingly opening their minds to remote talent at the same time, so figured I’d see what the data has to say!

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Kicking things off, the answer is yes. the trend is pointing toward a return to office, with the percentage of respondents working fully in-office more than doubling from 7% to 15% since 2023.

Now with Hybrid roles still taking up a majority of responses, it doesn’t look that dramatic, but in reality this means 37.5% fewer fully remote roles based on the survey responses which is very significant. And let’s not forget, in a previous newsletter we looked at job satisfaction based on office model, and Remote employees reported the highest level of job satisfaction, followed pretty closely by Hybrid, but in-office workers were quite a bit less satisfied in their jobs overall. So a move to more in-office roles may be widening the gap between employee expectations and firm policies.

So why are firms making this move? Some arguments I’ve heard are around team dynamics, particularly for new hires and junior members to be able to learn from being around their teams. Some people might prefer that, but we’re also talking about the most tech-native segment of the work-force. This also has many senior members with families quite concerned, who benefit from remote work flexibility to take care of their families and their health.

So looking at this, I think it’s not all bad, however I do think that firms who continue to embrace remote workforces will be more free to grow with greater access to talent. Further, for firms in High Cost of Labor cities, a remote workforce may unlock access to less costly labour which should be a major consideration going forward.

I’m going to be speaking at the Bridging the Gap conference in Denver from July 22 - July 24th! I went to this conference and met so many great people last year, and am so excited to be speaking about some of the findings from analyzing the data we collect. I’ll also be on a panel to discuss the importance of investing in your firm’s talent. If you happen to be going let me know, and if you’re curious to learn more, check them out - early bird pricing in on until May 31st!