While much of the debate on home working has been seen through the eyes of the employee, much less has been said about the requirements of employers, the other key actor in this debate. Our survey of central London workers reveals how much time businesses are expecting their employees to be in the office.
There have been few examples of employers being forthright about the requirement for staff to be back in the office. The earliest and most often quoted instance was that of Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon, who called home working an ‘aberration’. In contrast, when Apple tried to bring staff back three days a week it led to a staff revolt (although the company appears undeterred).
Other voices have joined the calls for a return to the office. Amazon has set out in detail why they want staff back at least three days per week. Meta and Disney have made similar statements. Lyft has reversed its position on flexible working, going from allowing fully remote to also requiring workers in three days per week. And the boss of AO has in recent weeks said that he wants staff back even if it means that some workers decide to quit.
These though are currently exceptions rather than the rule. The broader feeling seems to be that even if the feelings above are felt by a broader number of employers, which surveys on the mismatch between worker and employer expectations suggest, the tight labour market means that more businesses aren’t sticking their heads above the parapet for fear of losing their staff.
Despite this broader feeling, most employers in central London have set expectations on requiring staff in the office for at least part of the week. In April 2023, the survey we ran for our Office Politics report showed that three quarters of employees worked for an organisation that required them to be in the office, and half had specific days they had to come in on. The most common number of days was two office days, but 41 per cent were required to come in at least three days per week (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Two days is the most common requirement for central London workers to be in the office
Source: Focaldata/Centre for Cities
Note: All respondents (n=558)
Despite apparent employer nervousness, some employees go in more frequently than required. A quarter of employees reported going into the office more days than their employers request. This would suggest that there is room for employers to increase their requirements.
Job postings don’t suggest though that employers are reconsidering the hybrid model. Data from Indeed shows that the share of postings advertised as remote or hybrid were higher in 2022 than 2021 (see Figure 2). It will be hard for them to row back on this any time soon should they decide that hybrid isn’t working for them.
Figure 2: Remote and hybrid job postings in London are higher than ever
Source: Indeed
If it is the case that employers want employees in the office more frequently, but don’t want to move unilaterally on this for fear of staff quitting, then a classic co-ordination problem arises. To overcome this requires groups bigger than just one organisation to break the impasse. The most obvious of these would be for business groups to provide the perspective of their members on office working, but this is something others such as trades unions and the Mayor of London should consider too.
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