For a while now, many employers have been campaigning en masse for a return to in-office working. Now a survey from the United States reveals some have declared they will not hesitate to take action against those who do not come to the office enough this year.
Some 79% of managers and executives questioned by the Resume Builder platform use various strategies to ensure their employees come in to work on company premises. More than half of them (58%) measure their teams’ attendance times, while 88% of organisations that will require employees to come into the office at least one day a month have declared their intention to monitor workers’ presence onsite.
The majority of firms will require them to clock in using their ID badges, while others will manually track their in-office days or check whether they are connected to the office Wi-Fi network. Others say they will manage the occupancy of workspaces on premises by installing presence detectors, for example under employees’ desks.
Yet, the survey reveals that employers are not content to simply track employees: they are planning to impose sanctions on those who fail to comply, up to and including dismissal.
A third say they will dismiss employees who refuse to come to work onsite when necessary. Remote workers could also see their bonuses reduced, enjoy fewer benefits than their in-office colleagues, or have their salaries cut.
Overall, almost all employees whose days onsite will be monitored this year are likely to face consequences if they don’t visit company premises enough.
While managers aren’t hesitating to get tough on remote staff, they will also try to lure them back with perks. These include “happy hours” (52%), hiring caterers to cook tasty meals for their employees (46%), and redesigning offices to make them more attractive (41%).
Some are opting for back-to-work bonuses, or granting employees financial assistance to reduce the cost of childcare.
Managers more in favour
Despite this, managers are actually much more in favour of remote working than you might think. Some 68% of managers polled in a recent survey by employee-screening platform Checkr say they would like to see remote/hybrid working continue in 2024.
While the majority of managers agree it’s easier to supervise workers when they’re on site, they are also aware that going to the office doesn’t necessarily make employees more productive.
Open-plan offices are notorious for being places where people lose focus and get interrupted, which explains why some employees prefer to take refuge at home to get on with their work. What’s more, there are plenty of ways of looking busy in the office without actually getting much done.
That’s why managers are fairly cautious about the benefits of back-to-office policies: nearly 60% of those surveyed by Checkr fear that a large number of their staff would consider changing jobs if they were required to come into the company’s offices every day to work.
Overall, the results of this survey show that managers and employees are much more aligned than might be imagined when it comes to remote working.