Post by Music on Sept 10, 2023 4:36:08 GMT -5
Many business leaders are implementing strict office attendance policies as new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a slight decline in productivity since the COVID-19 pandemic was lifted.
ⓒGetty Images Bank
Decades ago, Bill Mindara, a young Phone Number List architect, shadowed a senior architect in his office, asking questions and seeking advice.
Mentorship is very important, not just in architecture but in any industry,” said Mandala, who is now CEO of Mancini Duffy, an architecture and interior design firm with about 90 employees in Manhattan.
However, Mandala noted that mentoring, collaboration, and productivity suffer in a remote work environment. So Mandala demanded to return to the office in Manhattan in June 2020 as soon as it was allowed to do so. He said, “Personally, I prefer being around people rather than working from home. Work itself is about providing what people need and being with them. “If you work from home with your dog, your dog will love it, but other than that, there are no other advantages.”
A growing number of industry leaders agree with this view and require employees to come to the office three days a week on average.
According to the 'Back to Work Barometer' from Kastle Systems, which provides remote key security technology to 2,600 buildings in 47 states, the average office occupancy rate in 10 US cities in the last week of July 2023 was It was 49.2%, a slight drop from a week ago (50.2%), but still close to the highest share since March 2020. Additionally, all cities on the return-to-work index (Chicago, New York, Dallas, LA, San Francisco, etc.) recorded an increase in occupancy rates this year.
Castle Systems' data shows building occupancy rates rising steadily over time. ⓒKastle Systems
Office desk reservations have also increased, according to Robin Powered, an office scheduling software company. It rose 20% between January and June 2023, with real estate companies, financial services companies and educational institutions driving the return-to-office policy.
Additionally, more and more executives are pointing to remote work as a potential cause of decreased productivity.
Productivity has fallen 1.9% over the past two years, “the largest two-year decline in its 75-year history,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Surveys show that most leaders (or managers) believe that remote work hinders employee productivity. According to a survey conducted by Microsoft in the spring of 2023 of 20,000 people in 11 countries, 85% of business leaders said that the shift to hybrid work arrangements has made it more difficult to ensure employee productivity.
This change stands in stark contrast to the actual rise in productivity during the pandemic. From the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021, productivity increased by 1.8%, which is low compared to the average annual productivity growth rate of 1.4% from 2005 to 2019. Additionally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. productivity fell 2.1% in the first quarter of 2023 even as hours worked increased 2.6%.
According to a report released last July by Stanford University's Institute for Economic Policy Studies (SIEPER), the regions with the highest proportion of remote workers were North America and Northern Europe, while Southern Europe had a lower rate. In Asia, especially developing countries, it was even lower. “Compared to other countries, the U.S. has been slow to return to the office,” said Mika Lemli, CEO of Robin. That is why it appears that office desk reservations have increased. The United States still has a long way to go. “We can confirm this in our own data,” he said.
According to SIEPR, the average number of days worked from home exceeded 60% in May 2020. Since then, as the pandemic has eased, the proportion of remote workers has decreased, and it is expected to reach about 25% this summer. “Due to the pandemic, the proportion of people working remotely has increased five-fold, from approximately 5% in 2019 to 25% in 2023,” the SIEPR report said.
The SIEPR report also revealed the results of a survey that divided American workers into three groups according to their place of work. Fully on-site work, hybrid work, and fully remote work. Six out of every 10 U.S. workers were fully field workers. They generally worked in face-to-face jobs where remote work is difficult, such as retail, food service, travel, hospitality, cleaning, and security, and were the lowest paid. Hybrid workers had the highest average salary, accounting for about 30% of the total. Lastly, only 10% of all employees were fully remote workers. They were mainly engaged in support work such as salary management, welfare, HR, call center, and limited coding work, and earned less than hybrid workers.
Mixed reactions to return to office order
When Mandla asked all employees to return to either its New Jersey office or its Manhattan headquarters, the response from employees was mixed. Mandla said, “Some employees were not happy, but everyone accepted it within two weeks.” According to Mandala, the policy was strict from the start. Coming to work three days a week was mandatory, and the exact work day varied from team to team, but one of them had to be Monday or Friday. Mandala said, “There are quite a few employees who come to work on Mondays.”
Mandala said not all companies need such strict guidelines, but in larger ones, they can reduce the need to monitor employee activity. “Managers won’t want to monitor their employees (because they work remotely),” he said. “You don’t want to give orders to people who are doing a good job because of the small number who abuse the system,” he said. “Also, if you say that everyone can go to work whenever they want, there are bound to be people who don’t want to go to work due to human psychology.”
Meanwhile, according to Castle Systems, young remote workers in particular have been shown to develop capabilities at a slower rate than their colleagues in the office, and in addition, innovation lags behind in the remote environment and employee engagement declines sharply, affecting both productivity and retention. It's crazy. In other words, the improvement in efficiency resulting from remote work is minimal, and even that pales in comparison to the shortcomings of weakened competency development.
ⓒKastle Systems
But orders aren't always the best strategy
“Leaders want their employees back in the office, and employees want flexibility,” says Peter Miskovich, managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle IP (JLL), a global real estate investment and management firm that tracks remote work trends. But Miskovich said current back-to-office orders aren't always effective and risk driving employees away. “Talent is gaining the upper hand, especially given the low unemployment rates in the technology sector, and we expect this to continue over the next 10 to 15 years,” he added.
ⓒGetty Images Bank
Decades ago, Bill Mindara, a young Phone Number List architect, shadowed a senior architect in his office, asking questions and seeking advice.
Mentorship is very important, not just in architecture but in any industry,” said Mandala, who is now CEO of Mancini Duffy, an architecture and interior design firm with about 90 employees in Manhattan.
However, Mandala noted that mentoring, collaboration, and productivity suffer in a remote work environment. So Mandala demanded to return to the office in Manhattan in June 2020 as soon as it was allowed to do so. He said, “Personally, I prefer being around people rather than working from home. Work itself is about providing what people need and being with them. “If you work from home with your dog, your dog will love it, but other than that, there are no other advantages.”
A growing number of industry leaders agree with this view and require employees to come to the office three days a week on average.
According to the 'Back to Work Barometer' from Kastle Systems, which provides remote key security technology to 2,600 buildings in 47 states, the average office occupancy rate in 10 US cities in the last week of July 2023 was It was 49.2%, a slight drop from a week ago (50.2%), but still close to the highest share since March 2020. Additionally, all cities on the return-to-work index (Chicago, New York, Dallas, LA, San Francisco, etc.) recorded an increase in occupancy rates this year.
Castle Systems' data shows building occupancy rates rising steadily over time. ⓒKastle Systems
Office desk reservations have also increased, according to Robin Powered, an office scheduling software company. It rose 20% between January and June 2023, with real estate companies, financial services companies and educational institutions driving the return-to-office policy.
Additionally, more and more executives are pointing to remote work as a potential cause of decreased productivity.
Productivity has fallen 1.9% over the past two years, “the largest two-year decline in its 75-year history,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Surveys show that most leaders (or managers) believe that remote work hinders employee productivity. According to a survey conducted by Microsoft in the spring of 2023 of 20,000 people in 11 countries, 85% of business leaders said that the shift to hybrid work arrangements has made it more difficult to ensure employee productivity.
This change stands in stark contrast to the actual rise in productivity during the pandemic. From the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021, productivity increased by 1.8%, which is low compared to the average annual productivity growth rate of 1.4% from 2005 to 2019. Additionally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. productivity fell 2.1% in the first quarter of 2023 even as hours worked increased 2.6%.
According to a report released last July by Stanford University's Institute for Economic Policy Studies (SIEPER), the regions with the highest proportion of remote workers were North America and Northern Europe, while Southern Europe had a lower rate. In Asia, especially developing countries, it was even lower. “Compared to other countries, the U.S. has been slow to return to the office,” said Mika Lemli, CEO of Robin. That is why it appears that office desk reservations have increased. The United States still has a long way to go. “We can confirm this in our own data,” he said.
According to SIEPR, the average number of days worked from home exceeded 60% in May 2020. Since then, as the pandemic has eased, the proportion of remote workers has decreased, and it is expected to reach about 25% this summer. “Due to the pandemic, the proportion of people working remotely has increased five-fold, from approximately 5% in 2019 to 25% in 2023,” the SIEPR report said.
The SIEPR report also revealed the results of a survey that divided American workers into three groups according to their place of work. Fully on-site work, hybrid work, and fully remote work. Six out of every 10 U.S. workers were fully field workers. They generally worked in face-to-face jobs where remote work is difficult, such as retail, food service, travel, hospitality, cleaning, and security, and were the lowest paid. Hybrid workers had the highest average salary, accounting for about 30% of the total. Lastly, only 10% of all employees were fully remote workers. They were mainly engaged in support work such as salary management, welfare, HR, call center, and limited coding work, and earned less than hybrid workers.
Mixed reactions to return to office order
When Mandla asked all employees to return to either its New Jersey office or its Manhattan headquarters, the response from employees was mixed. Mandla said, “Some employees were not happy, but everyone accepted it within two weeks.” According to Mandala, the policy was strict from the start. Coming to work three days a week was mandatory, and the exact work day varied from team to team, but one of them had to be Monday or Friday. Mandala said, “There are quite a few employees who come to work on Mondays.”
Mandala said not all companies need such strict guidelines, but in larger ones, they can reduce the need to monitor employee activity. “Managers won’t want to monitor their employees (because they work remotely),” he said. “You don’t want to give orders to people who are doing a good job because of the small number who abuse the system,” he said. “Also, if you say that everyone can go to work whenever they want, there are bound to be people who don’t want to go to work due to human psychology.”
Meanwhile, according to Castle Systems, young remote workers in particular have been shown to develop capabilities at a slower rate than their colleagues in the office, and in addition, innovation lags behind in the remote environment and employee engagement declines sharply, affecting both productivity and retention. It's crazy. In other words, the improvement in efficiency resulting from remote work is minimal, and even that pales in comparison to the shortcomings of weakened competency development.
ⓒKastle Systems
But orders aren't always the best strategy
“Leaders want their employees back in the office, and employees want flexibility,” says Peter Miskovich, managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle IP (JLL), a global real estate investment and management firm that tracks remote work trends. But Miskovich said current back-to-office orders aren't always effective and risk driving employees away. “Talent is gaining the upper hand, especially given the low unemployment rates in the technology sector, and we expect this to continue over the next 10 to 15 years,” he added.