Pandemic-era flexible work is not a “genie” the companies are finding easy to put back in the bottle. Nearly 20% of office workers recently surveyed by Resume Builder admit to ignoring strict, new return-to-the-office policies.
While 78% of those surveyed told Resume Builder they are fully abiding by their employer’s new rules about heading back to the office, 18% said they occasionally work around it, and 3% say they rarely follow the policy or don’t at all.
Those with a hybrid schedule have higher rates of not complying fully, and some admit to resorting to creative ways to get around the rules; for example, enlisting a co-worker for cover.
“Basically, that means that somebody else is swiping in and out for you, and making believe you are there,” said Stacie Haller, a career coach and Resume Builder’s chief career adviser. “In some other cases, employees are just choosing to be more flexible with the times they are coming in and they are going. There is still a percentage of people out there who are just not going to comply with the policies.”
For those reluctant to comply, or to outright defy the new policies, 20% say they are very likely to leave if the company starts cracking down, and 33% say they are likely to.
Working around return-to-the-office policies is obviously easier at companies with hundreds or even thousands of employees, where they may not be missed from day-to-day office interactions.
Haller said in some cases, the boss may just be looking the other way.
“I am sure if they are valued employees, their managers are probably letting them do it, because they understand they might have to bend a little bit for some people,” she said.
When asked what it would take to improve their satisfaction with new return-to-the-office policies after years of working at home or on a hybrid schedule, the No. 1 answer was a raise — 67% of respondents said so. That was followed by flexible start and end times to their day, and transportation benefits.
Others are less likely to convince the company, such as a lunch allowance or catered lunches, pets in the office and company-provided pet-care benefits.
Return-to-the-office policies may not always be about bringing teams back under one roof. Employers know a certain share of employees will go elsewhere so they use those policies as cover for culling employees.
“I do think what we see many times is that there are companies that want attrition, and they go in this route because they know people will leave, and then they don’t have to put layoffs out there,” Haller said.
Resume Builder surveyed just over 1,000 full-time employees in September for its report. Full results are online.
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