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Businesses believe corporate culture, skills development and productivity all benefit from being in the building, says Robert Half.
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Most bosses plan to mandate more office days for staff
16 February 2023
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Most employers will mandate more office days for staff this year, according to recruitment firm Robert Half, with the goal of getting back to a pre-pandemic normal.
Director Nicole Gorton said a complete end to restrictions meant businesses were now taking a strategic approach to hybrid working.
“The pandemic forced employers’ hand in allowing remote work options for their employees,” said Ms Gorton. “Now that restrictions have been fully lifted and the workforce is bouncing back and re-establishing their ‘normality’, employers are rethinking how often employees should be working from home and how many in-office days should be required.”
“If companies do decide to make their employees return to the office more often than they did in 2022, they need to make going into the office worthwhile.”
“This can be done by utilising community days, which see teams go in at the same time to allow collaboration and socialising. Other strategies like offering team lunches or workshops are more targeted reasons as to why people would want to attend the office.”
Robert Half research found 59 per cent of employers would require staff to increase the number of days they work from the office in 2023, with only 32 per cent happy with the amount of time physically attended by employees.
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Medium-sized firms were most likely to require staff to increase their office days at 73 per cent while small businesses were least likely at 47 per cent.
The recruitment firm also found NSW businesses were most likely to enforce an increase in office days at 63 per cent, closely followed by Queensland and Victoria at 60 per cent each.
Employers told Robert Half they believed physical attendance could benefit corporate culture, employee skills development, productivity, and employee wellbeing and motivation.
However Ms Gorton said flexibility, with the ability to work from home or hybrid working, had become a key demand for professionals looking to change jobs and a crackdown on WFH could tarnish a company’s appeal to potential recruits.
“As organisations continue to learn and evaluate how working from the office and working from home can affect attraction and retention, it has become apparent that a more efficient balance must be achieved,” said Ms Gorton.
“Flexibility will continue to be highly valued by employees, but different and sometimes more tailored approaches to the hybrid model could be a solid strategy for protecting workplaces from the drawbacks of remote working while still allowing employees to reap the many benefits of greater workforce flexibility.”
“If companies fail to have such a balance, employers run the risk of losing staff and struggling to secure new candidates at a time when a tight labour market continues.”
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