A survey by Future Forum shows a double standard when it comes to returning to office policies. While companies are asking employees to come back to the office, executives continue working from home. Results show that non-executive employees are almost twice as likely than executives to be working from the office five times a week.
In the past months, companies such as Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Google have focused on building policies that focus on an office-centric culture. However, in many cases, while employees are returning to the office, managers are not.
Future Forum Pulse: The Impact of the New Return-to-Office Policies
One of the key findings from the survey is that the latest return-to-office policies are negatively impacting employee experience scores. Work-related stress and anxiety and work-life balance dropped 17% quarter over quarter.
Full-time office workers report the steepest declines. The survey shows that:
- 2x as steep a decline in work-life balance compared to flexible workers.
- 1.6x as steep a decline in overall satisfaction with their working environment compared to flexible worker
- 1.5x worsening work-related stress and anxiety
Another of the key findings from the survey was that while most companies are demanding employees to return, the policies are not equal for executives who still work from home.
- 35% of nonexecutives are now working from the office 5 days a week compared to just 19% of executives.
- Nonexecutives’ work balance scores are 40% worse than their bosses.
Nonexecutives report twice the level of work-related stress and anxiety as executives.