Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Nonreligious
Careers, Workplace and Religion
What Do Employees Want When They Return to the Office?

What Do Employees Want When They Return to the Office?

Last updated on: June 23, 2021 at 10:31 am by Gleb Tsipursky

What Do Employees Want When They Return to the Office? 2021-06-23T10:31:34-04:00 Gleb Tsipursky

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What do employees want in returning to the office after the pandemic? It’s easy to assume we know what they want. Our assumption is that they want what we would want in their circumstances. In other words, we place ourselves in other people’s shoes.

Unfortunately, that assumption falls into a dangerous judgment error termed the false consensus effect. This problematic mental blindspot causes us to perceive others who we feel to be in our tribe, such as those who work in our organization, as sharing our values and beliefs. That’s often not the case. If you enjoy video, here’s a videocast based on this blog: And if you like audio, here’s a podcast based on the blog: Or simply read onward! The false consensus effect is one of over 100 misleading mental patterns that researchers in behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience call cognitive biases. Stemming from our evolutionary background and the structure of our brain’s neural wiring, cognitive biases lead us to make bad strategic and tactical decisions when we go with what we feel is right in our gut. These mental blindspots impact all areas of our life, from health to politics and even shopping. Fortunately, by learning about how to defeat the harmful impact of these dangerous judgment errors, we can make the wisest and most profitable decisions.

Survey Says…

To address the false consensus effect, we need to turn to objective data that doesn’t rely on our gut feelings, intuitions, and assumptions. A good way to do so is to conduct a meta-analysis of several in-depth, independent, and large-scale research surveys of employees on post-pandemic remote work and returning to the office published recently. A Harvard Business School study on remote workers found that:

27% hope to work remotely full-time
61% would like to work 2-3 days a week from home
Only 18% want to go back to the office full-time

A study by the Society for Human Resource Management discovered the following:

52% would like to work from home permanently full-time if herd immunity to COVID is never achieved
34% would still like to work from home full-time and permanently even if herd immunity was achieved
35% would accept a reduction in salary to work from home permanently

Another survey of those working from home had these top-line findings:

42% say if their current company does not continue to offer remote work options long term, they will look for another job
68% perceive a hybrid model of significant remote and in-person work as the ideal model
87% would prefer to work remotely at least some of the time
80% report they adapted well to full-time remote work
76% of employees consider benefits when evaluating whether to stay in a job, and they list remote work, flexible schedules, and mobility opportunities as the top three benefits
34% want resources to help set up a home office, and 33% want resources to subsidize other remote work expenses
35% report working more hours and 54% report taking less time off
50% are not concerned about their career growth
43% of remote workers say that they would be nervous about their job security if they worked remotely full-time, while others returned to the work site
26% plan to look for a job with a different employer after the pandemic, and of these, 34% want to find a job where they can work remotely and 80% are concerned about their career growth
48% feel more pressure to be online all the time while working remotely
39% find it difficult to socialize with co-workers
Remote worker connection to company culture improved from 36% in May 2020 to 47% in March 2021, showing that working remotely may actually boost company culture
42% of workers who plan to leave their current employer would grade their employer’s efforts to maintain culture during the pandemic as a “C” or lower compared to 30% of all workers

A fourth survey of remote workers finds:

46% would look for a different job if their current employer doesn’t offer some remote work after the pandemic
54% would be willing to stay in their job if not offered some remote work after the pandemic, but be less willing to go the extra mile
80% expect to work from home at least three times per week after the pandemic
81% think their employer will support working from home after the pandemic
74% would be less likely to leave their employer if offered remote work, and 71% would be more likely to recommend their company to a friend
75% of people are the same or more productive during COVID-19 while working from home
On average, remote employees worked an extra 26 hours each month during COVID (nearly an extra day every week)
80% believe there should be one day a week with no meetings at all
23% of full-time employees would take a pay cut of over 10% in order to work from home at least some of the time
57% weren’t concerned that working remotely would impact their career progression
77% feel that after COVID, being able to work from home would make them happier
72% agreed that the ability to work remotely would make them less stressed
77% report that working remotely would make them better able to manage work-life balance
No more than 25% of companies pay or share the cost of home office equipment
32% report that training in remote work would make them more effective
62% of respondents saw interruptions/being talked over as their top telework challenge
57% of respondents said that the audio quality of video conferencing is a challenge, and 56% said the video quality is a challenge

A fifth survey’s key findings on staff working remotely in the pandemic:

58% said they would “absolutely” look for a new job if they cannot continue remote work
- 31% said they aren’t sure what they would do
- and only 11% said that working remotely is not a big deal
46% feel concerned that returning to the office means less flexibility
43% believe it will bring less work-life balance
84% rank not having a commute as the most important benefit of telework
55% believe their productivity has increased while working remotely, 33% said their productivity has remained the same, 6% think their productivity has decreased, and 6% aren’t sure
35% see overworking as their biggest challenge with remote work, 28% list dealing with technology problems, 26% report challenges with reliable WiFi, and 24% indicate Zoom fatigue
56% experienced burnout

Here’s a sixth survey (including both remote and non-remote workers):

47% of employees say they would likely leave their job if it didn’t offer a hybrid work model once the pandemic ends
41% say they would be willing to take a job with a lower salary if their company offered a hybrid work model
Asked about the top benefit of hybrid work, 38% cite the top benefit of hybrid work as less time and money spent commuting, 34% say work/life balance, and 21% list improved work performance

Finally, a Microsoft study of remote and non-remote employees, combining survey responded with data from LinkedIn and Microsoft 365 products, found that:

73% of employees want flexible remote work options to be permanent
66% of leaders are planning to remodel their company spaces for hybrid work
67% of employees want at least some in-person collaboration after the pandemic
54% of employees felt overworked, 39% felt exhausted, and about 20% believe their company doesn’t care about work/life balance
46% of those currently working remotely are planning to move to a new location in 2021 because they can now work remotely
Remote job postings on LinkedIn increased more than five times during the pandemic, and women were 15% more likely to apply to such positions than in-person ones
Comparing collaboration trends in Microsoft 365 between February 2020 and February 2021:
- Time spent in Microsoft Teams meetings has more than doubled (2.5X) globally
- Average meeting is 10 minutes longer
- Average Microsoft Teams user is sending 45% more chats per week and 42% more chats per person after hours
- Despite meeting and chat overload, 50 percent of people respond to Teams chats within five minutes or less, a response time that has not changed year-over-year
- Number of emails delivered to commercial and education customers in February, when compared to the same month last year, is up by 40.6 billion
- 66% increase in the number of people working on documents.
- This barrage of communications is unstructured and mostly unplanned, with 62% percent of calls and meetings unscheduled or conducted ad hoc
LinkedIn data indicates nearly a doubling of job-switching intent in 2021

What Does Other Research Say?

Other research backs up this information. For example, consider a thorough survey comparing productivity of in-person vs. remote workers during the first six months of stay-at-home orders, March through August 2020, to the same March through August period in 2019. Employees showed a more than 5% increase in productivity over this period. Another study surveying 800 employers reported that 94% found that remote workers showed higher or equal productivity than before the pandemic. Non-survey research similarly shows significant productivity gains for remote workers during the pandemic. Moreover, governments plan to invest in improving teleworking infrastructure in the future, making higher productivity gains even more likely. Such remote work productivity gains aren’t surprising. Prior research showed that telework boosted productivity pre-COVID. After all, remote work removes many hassles taking up time for in-office work such as lengthy daily commutes. Moreover, working from home allows employees much more flexibility to do work tasks at times that work best for their work/life balance, rather than the traditional 9 to 5 schedule. Such flexibility matches research showing we all have different times of day when we are best suited for certain tasks, enabling us to be more productive when we have more flexible schedules. Some might feel worried that these productivity gains are limited to the context of the pandemic. Fortunately, research shows that after a forced period of work from home, if workers are given the option to keep working from home, those who choose to do so experience even greater productivity gains than in the initial forced period. An important academic paper from the University of Chicago provides further evidence of why working at home will stick. First, the researchers found that working at home proved a much more positive experience, for employers and employees alike, than either anticipated. That led employers to report a willingness to continue work-from-home after the pandemic. Second, an average worker spent over 14 hours and $600 to support their work-from home. In turn, companies made large-scale investments in back-end IT facilitating remote work. Some paid for home office/equipment for employees. Furthermore, remote work technology has improved over this time. Therefore, both workers and companies will be more invested into telework after the pandemic. Third, stigma around telework has greatly decreased. Such normalization of work from home makes it a much more viable choice for employees. The paper shows that employees perceive telework as an important perk. On average, they value it as 8% of their salary. The authors also find that most employers plan to move to a hybrid model after the pandemic, having employees come in about half the time. Given the higher productivity that the paper’s authors find results from remote work, they conclude that the post-pandemic economy will see about a six percent productivity boost.

A Meta-Analysis: 10 Key Findings

Here are the key conclusions of a meta-analysis comparing all of these studies:

Over two-thirds of all employees who worked remotely in the pandemic want and expect to work from home half the time or more permanently, while over a fifth want to work remotely full-time
Over two-fifths would leave their current job if they didn’t have the option of remote work of two to three days per week
Over a quarter plan to leave their job after the pandemic, especially those who rate their company cultures as “C” or lower
Over two-fifths of all employees, especially younger ones, would feel concern over career progress if they worked from home while other employees like them did not
Most employees see telework and the flexibility it provides as a key benefit, and are willing to sacrifice substantial earnings for it
Employees are significantly more productive on average when working from home
Over three-quarters of all employees will feel happier and more engaged, be willing to go the extra mile, feel less stressed, and have more work-life balance with permanent opportunity for two to three days of telework
Over half of all employees feel overworked and burned out, and over three-quarters experience “Zoom fatigue” and want less meetings
Employees need funding for home offices and equipment, but no more than 25% of companies provided such funding so far
Over three-fifths of all employees report poor virtual communication and collaboration as their biggest challenge with remote work, and many want more training in these areas

Conclusion

Don’t assume that you know what your employees want when they return to the office. Cognitive biases such as the false consensus effect misleads us into thinking others in our group share our beliefs when it is often not the case. Surveys and research have shown that new habits, norms, and values picked up during the pandemic will continue to have a significant impact on the post-COVID workplace. A combination of mainly hybrid and some remote work is our future. Defend yourself from mental blindspots so you can make the best strategic decisions after the pandemic.

Key Takeaway

Our assumptions about what others want are often incorrect due to the cognitive bias called the false consensus effect. Extensive research shows that most employees place a premium on telework and work-life quality after the pandemic…> Click to tweet

Questions to Consider (please share your answers below)

Do you have a clear view of what your employees want post pandemic?
Which of the points raised in the article resonate with your organization?
How will you use the 10 key findings to improve processes in your team?

Image credit: StartupStockPhotos Originally Published at Disaster Avoidance Experts on May 25, 2021.

Bio: Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is an internationally-renowned thought leader in future-proofing and cognitive bias risk management. He serves as the CEO of the boutique future-proofing consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts, which specializes in helping forward-looking leaders avoid dangerous threats and missed opportunities. A best-selling author, he wrote Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters (Career Press, 2019), The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships (New Harbinger, 2020), and Resilience: Adapt and Plan for the New Abnormal of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic (Changemakers Books, 2020). His writing was translated into Chinese, Korean, German, Russian, Polish, and other languages. He was featured in over 550 articles and 450 interviews in prominent venues. These include Fortune, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, CBS News, Business Insider, Government Executive, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Time, Fast Company, and elsewhere. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, and speaking and training for mid-size and large organizations ranging from Aflac to Xerox. It also comes from over 15 years in academia as a behavioral scientist, including 7 as a professor at Ohio State University. You can contact him at Gleb[at]DisasterAvoidanceExperts[dot]com, LinkedIn, Twitter @gleb_tsipursky, Instagram @dr_gleb_tsipursky, Medium @dr_gleb_tsipursky, and gain free access to his “Assessment on Dangerous Judgment Errors in the Workplace” and his “Wise Decision Maker Course” with 8 video-based modules.

Decision Making

Leadership

cognitive bias

decision-making process

employee engagement

leaders

leadership development

pandemic

wise decision makers

wise decision making

About Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

Known as the Disaster Avoidance Expert, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is on a mission to protect leaders from dangerous judgment errors known as cognitive biases, which devastate bottom lines and bring down high-flying careers. His expertise and passion is developing the most effective and profitable decision-making strategies, based on pragmatic business experience and cutting-edge behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience, to empower leaders to avoid business disasters and maximize their bottom lines. You can learn more here https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/glebtsipursky/ The bestselling author of several books, Dr. Tsipursky is best known for his national bestseller on avoiding disasters and achieving success in business and other life areas, The Truth Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide. His next book, Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters, is forthcoming with Career Press in November 2019. It’s the first book to focus on cognitive biases in business leadership and reveal how leaders can overcome these dangerous judgment errors effectively. After that he’s publishing The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships with New Harbinger in April 2020, the first book to focus on cognitive biases in professional and personal relationships and illustrate how we can defeat these dangerous judgment errors in our relationships. See more information here https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/author-page/ Dr. Tsipursky’s cutting-edge thought leadership was featured in over 400 articles he published and over 350 interviews he gave to popular venues that include Fast Company, CBS News, Time, Scientific American, Psychology Today, The Conversation, Business Insider, Government Executive, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Inc. Magazine, and many others, as you can see here https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/media/ Dr. Tsipursky's expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, speaking, and training for businesses and nonprofits. He serves as the CEO of the boutique consulting, coaching, and training firm Disaster Avoidance Experts, which uses a proprietary methodology based on groundbreaking research to help leaders and organizations maximize their bottom lines by addressing potential threats, seizing unexpected opportunities, and resolving persistent personnel problems. His clients include Aflac, Balance Employment Assistance Provider, Edison Welding Institute, Fifth Third Bank, Honda, IBM, International Coaches Federation, Ohio Hospitals Association, National Association of Women Business Owners, Sentinel Real Estate, The Society for Human Resource Management, RealManage, The Columbus Foundation, Vistage, Wells Fargo, the World Wildlife Fund, and over a hundred others who achieve outstanding client results. You can learn more about that here: https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/about Dr. Tsipursky also has a strong research and teaching background in behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience with over 15 years in academia, including 7 years as a professor at the Ohio State University and before that a Fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His dozens of peer-reviewed academic publications include journals such as Behavior and Social Issues, Journal of Social and Political Psychology, and International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy. His civic service includes over 4 years as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Intentional Insights, an educational nonprofit advocating for research-based decision-making in all life areas. He also co-founded the Pro-Truth Pledge, a civic project to promote truthfulness and integrity for individual professionals and leaders in the same way that the Better Business Bureau serves as a commitment for businesses. He serves on the Advisory Board of Canonical Debate Lab and Planet Purpose, and is on the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed journal Behavior and Social Issues. A highly in-demand international speaker, Dr. Tsipursky has over two decades of professional speaking experience across North America, Europe, and Australia. He gets top marks from audiences for his highly facilitative, interactive, and humor-filled speaking style and the way he thoroughly customizes speeches for diverse audiences. Meeting planners describe Dr. Tsipursky as "very relatable," as "a snap to work with," and as someone who "does everything that you would want a speaker to do." Drawing on best practices in adult learning, his programs address the wide spectrum of diverse learning styles, as attested by enthusiastic client testimonials and references. He regularly shares the stage with prominent leaders, for example recently speaking on a roundtable panel with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Elhadj As Sy, Chancellor of Austria Brigitte Bierlein, CEO of Penguin Random House Markus Dohle, and billionaire philanthropist and Chair of the Bertelsmann Management Company Liz Mohn. You can learn more about his speaking and see videos here: https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/speaking/ Dr. Tsipursky earned his PhD in the History of Behavioral Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011, his M.A. at Harvard University in 2004, and his B.A. at New York University in 2002. He lives in and travels from Columbus, OH. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, hiking, and playing with his two cats, and most importantly, he makes sure to spend abundant quality time with his wife to avoid disasters in his personal life. Learn more about him at https://DisasterAvoidanceExperts.com/GlebTsipursky, contact him at Gleb[at]DisasterAvoidanceExperts[dot]com, follow him on Instagram @dr_gleb_tsipursky and Twitter @gleb_tsipursky. Most importantly, help yourself avoid disasters and maximize success, and get a free copy of the “Assessment on Dangerous Judgment Errors in the Workplace,” by signing up for his free Wise Decision Maker Course at https:// DisasterAvoidanceExperts.com/Subscribe You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

June 16, 2021

How to Cope With Depression in the Post-Pandemic Recovery

Next Post

July 6, 2021 How to Cope With Depression in the Post-Pandemic Recovery (Video and Podcast)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Alternative Facts Behavioral Science Cognitive Bias Debates Deception Decision Making Donald Trump Effective giving Fake news Leadership Meaning and Purpose Personal Politics Post-Truth Pro-Truth Pro-Truth Pledge Psychology Rationality Secular Spirituality Uncategorized Wise decision Making

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Place me like a seal over your heart, for love is as strong as death and burns like what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The sun A blazing flame A torch Lightning