Millions of workers are facing orders to go back to their office cubicles in the second half of 2023, but employers will have to contend with their top performers and executives if they want their mandates to go to plan.
Despite young workers often getting the rap for spoiling return-to-office plans and championing a pro-remote culture, new McKinsey research reveals that it's actually high-earning mid-to-senior-level employees who are staunch supporters of working from home.
Plus, unlike the latest generation to join the workforce, this small but mighty bunch actually has the influence to protect their home office life.
Only a small percentage of junior staffers want to WFH
McKinsey surveyed 13,000 office workers in six countries and found that the largest share of employees who strongly prefer to work from home were those who earn more than $150,000.
In fact, 33% of employees who earn over $150,000 said they would quit their high-paying job altogether if their boss demanded them to come into the office five days a week. What’s more, this cohort of seasoned professionals would even take a 20% pay cut to be able to have a say on where and when they work.
This percentage drops to 11% for those earning less than $75,000 and only 9% of employees earning less than $50,000 felt the same way.
What’s more, half of the most senior employees surveyed are the ones holding on to their work-from-home days, with a mere 6% of junior employees preferring to dial into their jobs remotely.
“Their seniority and high incomes suggest that they are probably decision makers who can protect remote work at the team or company level,” the researchers conclude.
Essentially remote and hybrid work policies will likely remain in place, for as long as this highly coveted cohort of workers wants the option to work from home—and as such, flexibility will continue to be vital in attracting and retaining top talent.
Office attendance is still 30% lower than it was pre-pandemic
On average, workers are going to the office 3.5 days per week—around 30% below pre-pandemic times.
But for employers hoping that’s about to change as RTO calls increase, McKinsey has more bad news: Even as late as 2030, demand for office space will be lower than it was in 2019.
Indeed, many Gen Z workers want to return to the office to escape their flat shares and plug the gap in their basic office etiquette knowledge after years of missing out on work experience and collaboration during the pandemic.
Yet for those who have confidence in their working abilities, children, and a mortgage to pay, commuting to sit at a desk and do essentially the same job, feels like a time and money killer. These were cited by McKinsey as the top reasons why the workers surveyed want to work from home—alongside the desire to carve out more family time.
So until employers can convince managers that heading to the office is good value for their time and money, the return-to-work battle will probably continue.
