Survey: Companies want to bring their teams back to office, but employees prefer flexibility

While about a year ago, a third of employees were undecided about getting back to office, while 24% preferred remote work, now 67%of employees would prefer hybrid work offering them the possibility to choose how many days they should work in their office, an opinion poll made by Bestjobs recruiting platform shows.   “The lifting of anti-Covid 19 restrictions influences the employees work style, more companies wanting to bring their teams to office. According to the latest survey made by BestJobs, while about a year ago a third of employees had not decided returning to office and 24% preferred to work remote, now 67% of employees would prefer a hybrid work style, offering them the possibility to choose how many days they should work in their office. Moreover, 26% declare that in case their employer insisted on full return to office, they would resign and would look for a more flexible job,” the company announced.   At present, according to the survey made by BestJobs, 46% of white collar employees work from home, while only 32% share their activity between home and company headquarters.   After discovering the advantages of remote work, employees use time differently. 64% of participants in the survey say that one of the main reasons for which they would not want to return to office work completely would be the time allocated to going to the office and back home. The organization of free program and the time spent with the family are the main benefits employees take into account when they choose a flexible job.   Employees want to choose when and for what they go to work in the office, an advantage they have due to hybrid work.   The main reasons which would bring them one or more days per week at the office are projects where all team members are needed (43%), the need to socialize (26%),the possibility to exercise more by going out of the house (23%) and the better separation between personal and professional life (28%).   Returning to office, even if partially, would bring big changes in the lives of employees 100% accustomed to remote work. For an easier return to office work, they say they would need higher flexibility during work days, in order to manage at the same time family needs (35%), transportation discount (12%), more free days (11%) and help in managing work volume (10%).   “Once anti-Covid restrictions were lifted, employers prepared the employees' return to office, and others even resumed complete office work. Now, employees want more flexibility and a work system meeting their present needs better. Office work has its own advantages, which employees prefer, such as interactions with colleagues or the predictability of a work program, but most of them want to be able to choose where to work and thus they favor hybrid work style,” said Ana Visan, marketing manager at BestJobs.   65% of recruiting staff say that it would be better if employees returned to office completely, while 20% consider this process needs a smooth transition and estimate it will be done gradually in the next 3 months. Moreover, more than half consider that employees should be able to choose how many days to work from home and how many from office.   The survey was made over March 2-24, on a sample of 1,113 Internet users in Romania. BestJobs is one of the biggest online recruiting platform in Romania. At any moment, at BestJobs there are over 4.6 million professionals connected to the labour market, over 32,000 jobs and thousands of freelancers, recruiting agents or specialists in professional and personal development (coaches, mentors, therapists, lawyers and other kinds of specialists).