Since 2021, there has been a continuing debate on remote work versus hybrid schedule versus full-time in the office. While the tech industry continues to be ahead of other sectors in allowing workers to work from home, even in IT, businesses want employees out of their homes and back into the office. Some big tech employers like Meta, IBM and Rockstar Games require three days in office as of summer 2024, with only a handful of extreme mandates ending remote work completely like Amazon.
That isn’t to say that tech workers are all heading back in. Five out of the top eight job titles with the highest percentage of fully remote workers are tech workers, and 77% of one tech talent survey said they would be willing to work remotely for their job. However, job listings advertising fully remote positions have dropped over the past year.
In recent years, tech workers relocated out of cities and away from company offices, assuming that full-time remote work would continue indefinitely. However, when companies began requiring employees to return to the office, those who had moved faced challenging commutes. A Gallup survey found that 52% of remote work advocates cited avoiding commuting time as a top reason they don’t want to go into the office.
Workers themselves are conflicted about returning to the office. Only 28% of workers said their company is making it worthwhile to come into the office, and over 50% of frontline workers believe that being fully in the office is ideal for career advancement. That same survey showed that 62% of senior business leaders believe there’s a proximity bias between the in-person and remote/hybrid workforce.
Where does that leave tech workers and companies? As one of our recruiters said, both sides need to be able to compromise, and that compromise seems to have landed on a hybrid schedule with expanded local hiring.
75% of all companies allow some sort of remote work, with 2.2 days working remotely on average. It does appear that while most workers feel that five days in the office is a non-starter for a
job and will not accept an offer if it is full-time in the office, many tech workers are becoming more accepting of the hybrid schedule.
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Interestingly, there is a noticeable difference between generations in their preferences of where they work, with Gen Z mostly looking to be in the office multiple times a week. At the same time, Generation X and Baby Boomers are the age group most likely to want to work from home full time.
According to interviews with recruiters across the country, companies and hiring managers no longer want to do a nationwide search for most roles. They are willing to shrink the possible candidate pool to get local candidates to their office. Even if a role a company is hiring for can be done fully remotely, many are employing a 50 or 100-mile “bubble,” as we explored in last year's guide. This hiring strategy allows for a worker to do their job from home but head into the office as needed for major meetings, team collaboration and workshopping without expenses such as flights and hotels.
Companies and managers can keep employees satisfied in the office by providing clear benefits to being there. Tech workers who are required to work on-site, just to find themselves staring at a screen with headphones on, may feel that there is no advantage to being in the office, potentially leading them to explore other job opportunities. Employees view the office atmosphere more positively when going to the office allows for one-on-one meetings with managers to discuss career goals and promotional paths, fosters collaboration with team members that is hard to achieve over Zoom, or offers hands-on upskilling opportunities.
For both sides, the crux of the issue is continuing the conversation and ensuring value is being added. Productivity has to be maintained for those looking to work from home full-time. Numerous studies have been launched attempting to measure if those who work from home are more or less productive than in the office, and results have been mixed. Success will come down to knowing how an employee will work best combined with having management that knows how to bring out the best in their teams, no matter where they are doing their job.