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Forty percent of Americans prefer to work from home full-time, compared with\u00a035% who seek a home-office hybrid and 25% who want to go back to the office full-time, according to a Harris Poll survey. (Photo: Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n With the COVID-19 pandemic waning, a hybrid model that allows employees to\u00a0work from home part-time seemed to be gaining favor among companies and workers.<\/p>\n But a plurality of employees recently surveyed are effectively saying that if they want a change of scenery, they\u2019ll pick up their laptops and amble from the living room to the den.<\/p>\n Forty percent of Americans prefer to work from home full-time, compared with\u00a035% who seek a home-office hybrid and 25% who want to go back to the office full-time, according to a Harris Poll survey of 2,063 adults conducted May 14-16. The results were provided exclusively to USA TODAY.<\/p>\n Workers cite a variety of concerns about going back to the office, including losing the flexibility they\u2019ve enjoyed while teleworking, getting back to their pre-COVID routines, health worries and having to make small talk again with coworkers.<\/p>\n \u25ba’There we six. And now there’s zero’:<\/strong>\u00a0Restaurant industry grapples with lack of diversity in executive ranks<\/span><\/p>\n \u25baCan flex\u00a0hours succeed?: <\/strong>Employers offer flexible hours, but many grapple with how to make it succeed<\/span><\/p>\n The employees\u2019 wishes appear at odds with those of most U.S. businesses that want their workers back in the office at least some of the time after the health crisis fades. But Something\u2019s got to give, and <\/span>in a tight labor market beset by widespread labor shortages, companies will likely need to compromise or be willing to lose staffers, experts say.<\/p>\n \u201cThe DNA of work has changed,\u201d says Cali Williams Yost, CEO of Flex + Strategy Group, which helps companies adopt flexible work arrangements. \u201cEmployers need to acknowledge that.\u201d<\/p>\n Thirty-two percent of adults are still working from home all the time while another 21% head to the office sometimes, the survey shows. By contrast, 19% are back in the office while 27% never worked from home.<\/p>\n Workers\u2019 top concern about returning to their cubicles is losing the flexibility remote work provides, cited by 36% of those surveyed. Thirty-two percent are worried about getting back to their pre-COVID routines; 31%, being around people again; 30%, being around unvaccinated people; and 27%, the \u00a0commute to work. \u00a0<\/p>\n Many workers also point to social anxieties. Thirty-five are leery of having to engage in small talk; 28%, of having forgotten how to socialize; and 17%, of not being as articulate as they were.<\/p>\n “The DNA of work has changed. Employers need to acknowledge that.”<\/p>\n Shanette Joyner, 49, of Alexandria, Virginia, is a paralegal contractor for a federal agency who has worked from home since the start of the outbreak and wants to continue doing so three days a week.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough I felt isolated and depressed for the past 14 months, I\u2019m not looking forward to the grind of commuting,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Even though she\u2019s fully vaccinated, Joyner worries about traveling in a packed metro car, co-workers spreading germs and the quality of the office\u2019s heating and air-conditioning system. She also could do without the daily hassle of the commute, noting she\u2019s just as productive working from home.<\/p>\n She\u2019d like to come to the office a couple of days a week, adding, \u201cI do miss the camaraderie.\u201d<\/p>\n But she expects her employer to require all workers to return to the office full time by the end of the year and, if that\u2019s the case, she\u2019s OK with it. \u00a0<\/p>\n (Photo: Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n \u25baWhere the jobs are: <\/strong>Where are the best places for a college graduate to find a job? LinkedIn’s answers might surprise you.<\/span><\/p>\n How much?: <\/strong>Bank of America to boost minimum wage to $25 an hour for its employees by 2025<\/span><\/p>\n Although most of those surveyed would like to work from home at least part-time, 36% say their companies expect all employees to be back in the office full time in the next four\u00a0to six\u00a0months and another 29% say they\u2019ll need to be back by the end of the year.<\/p>\n Working from home has exploded since the start of the pandemic. While it might seem temporary, it could become the new normal. Here's why.<\/p>\n USA TODAY<\/span><\/p>\n The survey respondents may be a bit too pessimistic. A Gartner survey of HR leaders at 130 companies in December found that 90% plan to let employees work remotely at least some of the time even after much of the population is vaccinated. At the same time, 68% of executives say a typical employee should be in the office at least three days a week to maintain a distinct company culture, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey late last year.<\/p>\n A big reason for the discrepancy between what companies want and what employees think they want is that they aren\u2019t communicating, Yost says.<\/p>\n Forty-seven percent of those polled by Harris say their firms haven\u2019t surveyed employees or provided them a platform to express concerns to gauge their interest in returning to the office full-time.<\/p>\n “Although I felt isolated and depressed for the past 14 months, I\u2019m not looking forward to the grind of commuting.”<\/p>\n \u201cEmployers are not surveying their people,\u201d Yost says. \u201cEmployees that are not publicly stating. \u2018We are open to being a more flexible workplace\u2019 are at risk of employees assuming that is not happening\u201d and leaving the company.<\/p>\n In the end, she believes, most employers will be open to flexible set-ups during a transition period as both companies and workers figure out what works best for the long haul.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re entering a period of transition and experimentation,\u201d Yost says.<\/p>\nTop concerns about returning to work<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWhat bosses think of work from home<\/h2>\n