Reopening: Back to the Office, Hybrid or Fully Remote?

Last week, Google announced that it plans to start bringing employees back to the office on a voluntary basis starting this month. With more than 30% of the country now at least partially vaccinated and on track to reach 70% by September 15th, HR leaders nationwide are fine-tuning their reopening plans after more than one year of primarily remote work, keeping their employees’ safety and well-being at the forefront.

From our conversations with employers, we see three approaches to reopening. How does your company’s plan compare and what are the nuances of each approach? 

1. Back to the Office Five Days A Week

A survey conducted last month by Harvard found that 18% of employees prefer to go back to the office full-time. However, half of the employees would like to wait until they are fully vaccinated before doing so. In this midst, many HR leaders are debating whether to make vaccination mandatory for employees. Only 8% of employers in a different survey are mandating vaccination. However, 71% of employees are hesitant to go back until everyone is fully vaccinated.

Employers who are choosing to bring employees back to the office before widespread vaccination are doing so gradually. For example, Uber started reopening their San Francisco headquarters last week at 20% capacity on a voluntary basis. A PwC study found that most employers expect half or more of their employees to return to the office by July 2021.  

It’s still early to get a complete read on which companies are committed to going back to the office five days a week. So far, it appears that employers in the real estate and finance industries are the biggest backers of this approach. 

2. Hybrid 

A hybrid approach―going into the office two or three days a week and working the rest of the week remotely―is by far the most popular option among both employers and employees. 61% of employees would like to work a few days from home every week and 68% of employers say employees should be in the office at least three days a week. Many want to maintain the flexibility of working remotely but also crave the engagement, collaboration and social interaction with colleagues that come from being in the office. 

Many large technology companies have announced their hybrid plans and most have not mandated vaccinations for employees. Microsoft has developed a 6-stage plan that directly responds to the public health situation in each of its locations. Google plans to have employees in the office for three days a week starting in the Fall. Salesforce announced that once it’s safe to do so, most of its employees will be able to work from the office one to three days a week. Facebook has also started giving employees the option to come to the office on a voluntary basis. Although they expect most employees to return in the fall, founder Mark Zuckerberg recently predicted that half of Facebook’s employees could be working remotely over the next decade. 

3. Fully Remote

The third approach is about making the current remote work arrangement permanent. Nearly one-third (27%) of all employees prefer to work remotely full-time, but only 13% of employers would consider such an arrangement. Employees like the flexibility, lack of commute and productivity gains from working remotely. Employers benefit from lower office costs and access to a wider talent pool. A fully remote option makes it easier for employers to hire the best talent regardless of location and retain current employees looking to relocate.

Twitter was one of the first employers to announce that they will permanently allow employees to work from home post-pandemic, followed by Square.  Dropbox was next, calling their approach “virtual-first.” Reddit also announced its permanent remote work policy while also committing to no cost of living adjustments if employees decide to move to a lower cost of living area.  BrightPlan has also decided to go down this route. We call our approach “Work from Anywhere.” You can read more about this in a related blog post. 

COVID-19 dramatically changed the way we work, from commuting into the office five days a week to seamlessly working from home overnight. Many employees are eager to continue working remotely at least part of the time post the pandemic. No matter which approach your company chooses, being agile and flexible while aligning employee and business needs―and prioritizing the health and safety of all―will be key for HR leaders over the next year.