For many of us, it seems there's a little light at the end of the long, pandemic tunnel. Vaccinations are up, and employers are starting to clamor for a return to the office. But back to work means something very different than it did before lockdown. The new work is hybrid work—only not everyone agrees on what that is and whether we should like it or not.
CNBC and SurveyMonkey conducted an in-depth poll in April 2021 that queried 8,233 employed adults across the US and attempted to measure overall employee "happiness." While the results of that data are probably up for interpretation, the poll also covered employee expectations of the "new normal": namely, hybrid work.
Everyone agrees that hybrid work means X days in the office and X days at home. But those Xs can vary widely, according to the poll. The data shows that only 23% of currently home-working employees expect to be back and working full-time in the office once their employers ring the back-to-work bell.
Surprisingly, only 18% think they'll be working entirely from home, while 56% are actually expecting the traditional hybrid location split. The poll also showed that those numbers varied depending on which industry respondents work in, especially when it comes to working only from home. Insurance is the winner there, with 46% of workers expecting to stay at home. That drops to 33% for the finance sector, 28% for tech workers, and then all the way down to 6% for those in education, though that low percentage was to be expected once schools are fully opened.
The poll also showed that younger workers (millennials and Gen-Xers) definitely favored the hybrid model, but with an emphasis on the workplace rather than the home. Of these, 10% wanted to work in the office full time, while 18% preferred a hybrid model where the majority of work was done in the office. Then 21% expected an even split, while 22% were looking for a ratio that favored home working. Only 29% wanted an all-home work environment. According to the study, younger workers not only favored hybrid flexibility but also missed the social interaction at the office and even believed that working solely at home would hurt their careers in the long term.
Bottom line: Exactly what the hybrid work model is will vary not only from employer to employer but also across different employee segments. If you're a business looking to establish this model, CNBC's poll clearly shows you'll be better off having your human resource staff collaborate on the home-to-office split with your employees before setting it in stone. Managing expectations will mean a much more cooperative workforce in the long run.