No, we don’t want to go back to the office – Future Forum

Away from the Apple track, but still relevant to millions of currently remote Mac using workers who proved themselves committed and productive but are now being forced back to the office, you’re not alone – most everyone feels as cheesed off as you do.

The new normal, like before, but worse

That’s the primary message coming out of the latest Future Forum Pulse Survey. That report shows that around a third of knowledge workers have been kicked back to the office and they aren’t having a good time. Employee experience scores are falling rapidly.

How rapidly? The data really speaks for itself:

• 2x as steep a decline in work-life balance, compared to flexible (hybrid and remote) workers
• 1.6x as steep a decline in overall satisfaction with their working environment, compared to flexible workers
• 1.5x worsening in work-related stress and anxiety, compared to remote workers

The revolution in working culture is happening though – but only to executives who are twice as likely as non-execs to work remotely.

Not much thanks at all

Having spent two years supporting their bosses’ businesses, no wonder workers are annoyed. They’ve also bumped into a real lack of enthusiasm among some bosses to be flexible about working hours – around 65% of those surveyed reported this. They’re unhappy and they’ll probably seek employment elsewhere.

“Employee sentiment has dropped to near-record lows, including 28% worse scores on work-related stress and anxiety and 17% worse scores on work-life balance (compared to last quarter). There are signs that employers will pay a price for this discontent: Workers who say that they are unsatisfied with their current level of flexibility—both in where and when they work—are now three times as likely to look for a new job in the coming year,” Future Forum said.

What not to like

Look, commuting on packed public transit, turning up at the office late and being forced to apologise for it, even though it was the transport system at fault, and the stress of having to outsource pet and childcare, and lack of time with loved ones isn’t a natural condition.

No one wants this, beyond a small psychotic few.

The whole notion of collaboration around the water cooler has always been a myth.

The report makes it clear that a better work/life balance made people much happier than they feel when they’re forced to put in overtime hours, or spend hours on public transport, just so employers can pay for swish office space the workers whose work pays for don’t actually want to be in.

Balance is critical, the report says, and I believe it.

Please make this flexible

For many companies, return-to-office conversations have focused almost exclusively on the “where” instead of the “when” of work, overlooking the critical importance of schedule flexibility.

Today, more than 9 out of 10 knowledge workers (94%) say they want schedule flexibility (compared to 79% who want location flexibility)—yet nearly two-thirds (65%) say that they personally have little to no ability to adjust their hours from a pre-set schedule, outside of the occasional doctor’s appointment.

Pulse data shows that this kind of schedule rigidity can have significant adverse impacts on an employee’s overall experience at work. Knowledge workers who say that they do not have access to flexible working hours report:

• 2.2x worse work-related stress and anxiety
• 1.7x worse work-life balance
• 1.4x worse burnout

The exploitation will continue until morale improves

I feel as if workers worldwide have been exploited here.

Early in the pandemic it was all about ‘how great it will be and yes of course we’ll all work remotely’, but now they tell us the illness has gone (it hasn’t, people are dying every day) it’s as if all that promise has been obliterated.

Why?

Primarily to prop up the office rental industry, and (I guess) to support some of those fragile management egos who just couldn’t make the transition toward businesses modelled on communication and goals and wanted to retreat into 19^th century models based on presence.

It’s a real failure, frankly. A failure of management.

[Also read: Apple says it prohibits video monitoring of home workers]

“Leaders need to move away from dictating days in the office and rigid 9-to-5 schedules, and focus instead on aligning their teams around a common purpose and leading by example,” said Brian Elliott, Executive Leader of the Future Forum.

“Trusting your teams with the flexibility to work where and when works best for them will lead to better business results and happier employees.”

And what’s wrong with better results and happier people?

I believe the future we’ve just had will happen, but we may all need to push for it. Trust is the currency all businesses are built on, and eroding trust with your employees won’t work well.

Read more from Future Forum here.

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