Survey: Return-to-office is top concern for Northern California employers
If you’re an employer who is agonizing about whether you should be forcing people back to work in the office full time, some new data suggests you may want to hold off doing so — at least for now.
That was among the findings of Sonoma-based employment agency Nelson Connects’ newly released 2023 Salary Guide and Workplace Trends Report.
“Our results showed that only one-quarter of employers now require employees to be going back to (the office) on a full-time basis,” said Joe Madigan, CEO of Nelson Connects.
Given people’s attitude toward work has changed, most employers won’t risk forcing employees or qualified job candidates to work in the office full time.
“Candidates are still turning down work,” Madigan said. “Of the companies we surveyed, 63% said they either lost a candidate, or candidates put them on a back burner in terms of accepting offers with them if the position was not going to be working remotely or offer an opportunity for flexibility.”
Further, more than one-third of survey participants said they had employees resign if they were mandated back to the office.
Clearly, Madigan said, how companies are dealing with the return-to-work issue stood out most in the new survey, which Nelson conducts every year.
During the fourth quarter of 2022, Nelson surveyed 140 hiring managers in California — predominantly in Northern California — across dozens of industries in the public and private sectors, as well as nonprofit organizations.
In the survey, 40% of employers had chosen the hybrid model, 24% required workers back in the office full time, and 12% were letting employees decide where they want to work.
Revenue expectations
Nelson’s survey found 55% of participants expect revenue to grow this year despite inflation, wage pressures, the tight labor market and, for some, workforce realignments and reductions.
“So companies that didn't do (as well as) they wanted to do in 2022, still had year-over-year growth,” Madigan said.