As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes further into the rearview mirror, business leaders and HR professionals find themselves navigating the next great challenge: bringing employees back to the office.
Many companies are at odds with their employees over remote, hybrid and onsite work arrangements. While organizations determine whether remote work is still the best option for their business, many virtual employees wrestle with whether to return or jump ship if required to return onsite. HR sits at the nexus: developing policies that aim to boost employee engagement and retention, helping to establish a company culture that thrives in an uncertain economy, and working with leadership to chart a course for the business’s ongoing success.
Welcome to “The Great Compromise.” In this series of articles, SHRM Online explores the many facets of the return-to-office challenge, identifying the common ground for both employers and employees.
To understand the state of return-to-office, it’s important to look at the trends. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics sought to capture data on how employers handled the myriad issues facing their workforce. The Business Response Survey captured the shift of workers back to the office from 2021 to 2022, across all industries.
Kastle Systems, a security provider that operates globally, uses the office occupancy data from more than 2,500 Kastle-equipped buildings to create its return-to-office “barometer”—tracking the utilization of offices in major metropolitan areas around the country.
For more resources on managing your company’s return-to-office, check out SHRM’s Return to Office resource hub page.