Hybrid Schedules Struggle to Catch On. NewsWire

NewsWire: 6/4/22

• According to a recent survey, just 8% of workers are back in the office at least 3 days a week. Nearly a third of employers, meanwhile, haven’t decided what their return-to-office plans are yet. (The New York Times)
• NH: Over the last couple of months, many companies have implemented hybrid work schedules. But according to a recent poll of over 10,000 workers, most employees are still telecommuting. 
• In North America, 56% of white-collar workers are back in the office "less than once a week." 22% are in person one day a week, 13% two days, 5% three days, 2% four days, and 1% five days. 
• These results jibe with Kastle Systems' weekly office occupancy report. Last week in the ten largest US cities, only 42.9% of workers (measured as a share of around-the-clock full occupancy) were in the office. Before the pandemic, that share was nearly 95.0%. 

• According to Manpower Group, almost one-third of US businesses still haven't decided on their return-to-office plans. They may be wary about upsetting their employees. As we have reported, many companies with aggressive in-person plans have experienced lower morale. (See “The Looming Battle Over Remote Work.”) 
• A company finding out the hard way is Apple (AAPL). It recently announced that workers need to be in the office three days a week. How did the staff take the news? A poll of 652 Apple employees found that 76% are unhappy with the new policy. And 58% know someone who has quit because of it. 
• Nevertheless, some executives claim not to care if employees leave. In a leaked email, Elon Musk wrote that Tesla (TSLA) workers need to return to the office full time or find a new job. Get back to that hustle culture, Millennials! We'll see how that goes. Last year, after a similar everyone-back message to all Chase employees, Jamie Dimon (JPM) glibly observed, "we are getting blowback about coming back internally, but that's life." Since then, Jamie too has sounded a retreat: It turns out that only 50% need to be in the office full time. And this number too may be subject to future adjustment.

Did You Know?

• To Regulate or Not to Regulate? Last April, the majority of Americans (56%) supported more government regulation of major tech companies. But in just a year, that share has dropped sharply and now stands at 44%. This is according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. Over the same period, the share of Americans who support less regulation has more than doubled from 9% to 20%. The biggest shifts have occurred among conservative Republicans, whose support for more government regulation has fallen -24 percentage points (from 59% to 35%) and whose desire for less regulation has more than tripled (from 11% to 33%). Liberal Democrats’ support for more regulation has dropped as well, albeit less sharply, from 70% to 58%. Pew offers no reasons for the shift in support, but it does point out that this survey was conducted shortly after Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s buyout offer. And despite the declines, those who want more regulation (44%) still outnumber those who want less (20%).