Most Workers Think Those In-Office Have Career Advantages

A new American Staffing Association and Harris Poll survey shows that 56% of workers think those who are in-office have an advantage over fully remote ones when it comes to raises, bonuses, and promotions. But fewer than half work completely in the office.

According to the results, only 48% of workers work completely in person in corporate offices, while 28% are hybrid and 24% are fully remote.

Harris Poll conducted the survey for ASA October 27 through 31 2022 among 2,019 US adults 18 and older, of whom 1,140 were employed. Sample data was supposed to be accurate within 2.8 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.

“How, when, and where work will get done in the future is still an open question,” a press release quoted Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and CEO, as saying. “Employers are trying to determine how hybrid and remote work affects productivity. And employees are trying to determine how the rise of hybrid and remote work is going to affect their careers, especially now that they’re contending with economic uncertainty,”

Ultimately, office property owners are concerned whether companies will maintain their current levels of leasing or might give up space because not as many employees will need full-time space.

ASA expects both hybrid and remote work to be around for “significant numbers” of employees if their work can be done at home.

Women were more likely to report working 100% in the office, at 51% of them versus 24% who were on hybrid schedules. Another 24% worked purely at home.

For men, the numbers stacked up at 44% fulltime in the office, 32% hybrid, and 24%.

Younger Workers with children under 18 years of age were most likely to work a hybrid scheduled (33%) compared to those not a parent of an 18-year-old or younger child (24%). Almost the same number — 24% of those with children under 18 versus 25% of those without — worked 100% remote. However, 51% of those without children under 18 worked only in the office, compared to 43% of those with children under 18.

Also, older workers were far more likely to have 100% in office schedules while younger ones were more likely to work hybrid. For completely in-office, 52% of baby boomers and 54% of Gen-X had that schedule compared to 46% of millennials and 36% of Gen-Z. But 39% of Gen-Z worked hybrid while 34% of millennials, 19% of Gen-X, and 20% of baby boomers did. Only 25% of Gen-Z, 20% of millennials, 27% of Gen-X, and 28% of baby boomers worked completely remotely.

About 29% of all workers somewhat agree and 17% fully agree that they felt pressure to work during time off. And 44% said they either somewhat or fully agreed that they would be willing to take a pay cut if they could work remotely when they wanted.