2023 Return to Office Stats - Key to Know

The pandemic brought a lot of changes for the workforce and required people to adapt. Many employees had returned to the office or were returning  to the office, but the hybrid work model was still in motion. This historical 2023 collection draws on earlier research from 2021 and 2022, covering employee preferences and employer return to office mandates. 

There are foreseeable insights and stats we can still see how numbers are telling their story of returning to the office. We have gathered data and insights of what was happening in the workforce and looking at the employees point of view to understand what was going on with Return to Office.

Office attendance under full-time office mandates.

As mentioned in Quartz , that half of the employees have returned to office research showed in 2022 to work fulltime from office. 49% of employees have returned to the office by setting mandates, they are showing up 5 days of workweek. 

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We have explored the topic of “Return to Office” or “RTO”, also known as “Back To The Office”. 

61% of Canadians prefer a hybrid or remote work model.

In Accenture's July 2021 Canadian release, 61% measures work-model preference; 37% and 41% measure perceived productivity and health, primarily remotely and anywhere, respectively. The March 2021 survey covered 9,326 workers in 11 countries globally, not just Canada.

According to "The Future of Work: Productive Anywhere," which included 9,326 workers from 11 different nations, 37% of Canadian workers think working remotely is the primary way they can be productive and healthy, while 41% think they can be productive anywhere.

Globally, 85% of people who said they could be productive and healthy anywhere planned to stay with their company for a long time. However, finding a hybrid model for all generations may be challenging, as 74% of Gen Z respondents wanted more opportunities for face-to-face collaboration.

Reported office-attendance preferences.

As learned and data collected by Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) has shown that from workplace surveys of around 10,000 employees conducted during lockdown, just 3% of staff members were pleased to work five days a week prior to Covid-19, and 86% of employees now wish to work from home at least two days each week. These numbers are true for all age groups. 

Preferred on-site time.

Rather than being forced to work on a schedule dictated by their company, some employees may prefer to set their own. This may afford them more flexibility, but the on-site-time percentages below do not measure control over schedules or establish the same level of autonomy as when they worked entirely remotely.

According to Zippia, 38% of employees want to spend at least 40–60% of their time on-site.While 24% would like to spend more than 60% of their time in the office, 37% would prefer to spend less than 40% of their time on-site.

In 2022, 34% of Fortune 100 companies reportedly required a return to the workplace.

34% of the Fortune 100 corporations demanded that their staff members return to the workplace in 2022. This number is double that of the prior year, when only 17% of companies urged a return to work.

👉To learn more about Return to Office Mandates. 

11% of the Fortune 100 have closed some of their offices.

Some Fortune 100 top corporations are drastically shrinking or downsizing their office footprints and office spaces. These companies list from BuildRemote includes Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, State Farm, Amazon, Geico, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Oracle, Target, Intel, Amazon, Geico, Amazon, AT&T, and Oracle. 

👉To Learn more Return to Work Policy and Hybrid Work Policy that are being used by companies. 

The Great Resignation: 49% of on-site-first organizations reported negative effects in Upwork's 2022 survey.

According to an Upwork survey published in August 2022, 43% of businesses said the Great Resignation had negatively affected their organization. The shares were 49% for on-site-first organizations, 55% for remote-by-day organizations, and 31% for remote-first organizations. Difficulty finding talent quickly was the most frequently cited negative effect (37%). These are reported organizational effects, not percentages of jobs lost.

👉To Learn more Return to Office Survey and have ready made sample template for you !

Overall…

Despite worries about productivity and career advancement, employers can consider flexible working hours and locations to support employees. 

Employers can make improvements in these areas and help employees feel at ease working remotely as part of their efforts to keep talent. The figures cover different populations and questions—preferences, attendance, mandates and reported organizational effects—not a single comparable RTO rate.