Survey: Three-quarters of workers happy be back in the office

It seems like all anyone is talking about these days is how little employees want to return to the office. With talent pools squeezed by low unemployment, some reports suggest in-person jobs are struggling to recruit candidates, at least compared to their remote counterparts. But new research from Beamery, a talent and recruiting company, tells a different story. According to their most recent “Talent Index,” based on a survey of over 2,500 U.S. workers who have returned to the office, 74% of people were happy to go back to in-person work after functioning remotely during the pandemic.

Yet while 70% of employees said they were at least as productive, if not more productive, when working remotely, some 70% also said their bosses worried about work-from-home productivity.

Moreover, the research shows that employees are keeping an open mind about new positions. More than half of those surveyed said they were leaving or considering leaving their jobs within the next year, and as many as 57% of employees said that even during a recession, they would keep looking for new jobs.

The data suggests that employers have work to do in order to improve employee retention. Surveyed employees who had left or considered leaving their job in the last year reported lack of salary raises and bad management as top concerns. On the other hand, 77% of employees said they’d stay at their current company if they had good promotion and development opportunities. 

Still, many businesses have adapted to give employees more flexibility since the start of the pandemic, said Beamery co-founder and CEO, Abakar Saidov. “To continue motivating top talent at such a pivotal time, business leaders would do well to prioritize talent mobility strategies, which are clearly in demand, to reinforce that investment is still being made in training and career development – which will also improve retention rates.”