Since the pandemic, remote work has been more prevalent than ever. It was an option for employees before, but stay-at-home orders forced many jobs that normally would never be remote to become that. For example, before court hearings were rarely, if ever, done over a Zoom meeting. Now this is the norm for many attorneys. Almost every industry has seen a boom of remote work jobs now that it is more accessible to work out of the office.
Usually, it seems that when we hear about work from home (WFH), it is the employees wanting more of these opportunities while the employers do not want them. After all, managers cannot monitor their employees when they are home and make sure they are not doing other things while working. Surprisingly though, survey results show a different picture. A survey discussed on cnbc.com shows that “68% of bosses, a group that included middle managers, executives and business owners, would like remote work to continue in 2024, while less than half (48%) of employees feel the same”. Maybe the employees prefer the support of the office more than what was originally thought? Another report from the same article states “one-third of employees earning over $150,000 would quit their jobs if they have to return to the office full-time”. This number reflects the bosses and higher-ups.
While it is still true that managers want to keep tabs on their employees, this might not outweigh their own want to work from home.
I found these numbers to be surprising because of the general consensus that employees prefer WFH more than their employers. What are your thoughts on this trend?
Sierra,
ReplyDeleteContrary to what we've seen since COVID, remote work isn't a new concept. I was sifting through old inspection files one day at my previous posting, and found telegrams from the 1950's talking about how an inspector based in West Palm, with a typewriter in a trunk and State-issued rolls of quarters, had to phone up to Tallahassee to get information on a case file.
Technology may have made it easier, and necessity may have made it more widespread, but I suspect a certain portion of the population has been working "remote" for a significant amount of time.