Companies want their employees back in their offices

Her years work electronically, The “we met” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic may have passed for good, but many companies are still offering their employees hybrid or remote work plans.

But what's more than that are companies and employers who are forcing their employees to return to their offices on a full-time basis.

the Boeingthe UPS And the C. B. Morgan Chase It is among the major companies that In-person attendance was imposed five days a week.

For some of these companies, The full return of workers to their facilities has a high cost This is especially true in the US, where the most dramatic shift to flexible work is taking place – by January 2024, about 29% of all paid workdays were remote.

“Employers who cannot compete on flexibility will have to compete more aggressively on wages.” says Julia Pollack, chief economist at California-based ZipRecruiter.

The result is this Salaries in the United States for office-only roles and positions are rising significantly.

According to data from ZipRecruiter, which released BBC, companies offered an average of $82,037 (£64,562) in fully in-person jobs by March 2024 – an increase of more than 33% from 2023 ($59,085, £46,499). This trend is across the board: compared to hybrid roles ($59,992, £47,211) and fully remote roles ($75,327, £64,320), Workers appear more likely to increase their wages by returning to pre-pandemic working hours.

It's partly about her Compensation for loss of flexibility Which workers have prioritized in recent years – the greater the pressure to give up this independence, the more employers will offer in return. ZipRecruiter data shows workers shifting from fully remote to fully on-premise in US by 2023 Received a 29.2% salary increase. – Nearly twice as many as those who moved in the opposite direction.

“The bottom line is that people are demanding higher pay increases for all-white-collar jobs.” Pollack says. “An employer that offers flexibility can negotiate a total compensation package with non-monetary incentives, while an employer that wants workers in the workplace five days a week can only offer financial terms.”

In the United kingdom And EuropeHowever, the availability of remote working has declined – for example, an October 2023 survey of 15,000 UK employers and workers found that 43% of workers had returned to jobs that required constant presence. This means that the trend toward the personal work premium is expected to be weaker than in the United States, Pollack says.

In the The current climate of cost cuttingthe Offer flexibility For workers Against salary increases It seems like a win-win for both sides. But despite this, some employers are willing to raise wages for “full desks” because they believe the trade-off is worth it, Pollack says.

“Among some employers, There may be a perception that employees who work remotely are less productive“, He adds. Many people also do not want empty offices for psychological reasons.

But according to Barbara Petrongolo, professor of economics at Oxford University, there is an unintended consequence of this pay gap, which could boost… Inequality in the labor market.

“Those with caring commitments and responsibilities tend to prefer flexibilityAnd these are disproportionately women. Thus, if better-paying jobs offer less flexibility, some segments of the workforce will actually be forced to give up higher-paying opportunities.“.

If bosses really want their workers in the office, the current premium offered for in-person work five days a week would likely stay the same, experts say. There is no sign that flexible forms of work are disappearing.

For example, ZipRecruiter data for March 2024 shows that approx 33% of professional and business roles are in the US Advertised as hybrid or remote work.

“Employees still want flexibility and there are many jobs advertising the possibility of working from home at least two days a week.” Petrongolo says. “Therefore, in order to impose strict working conditions that are unfavorable to the worker, employers must continue to pay more.”