As part of our Big Ideas 2023, LinkedIn News Africa predicts that hybrid work is here to stay. We’ve seen the reluctance of many employees in Africa to return to the office because they have embraced this new way of working – not fully remote, but not entirely in the office either. The best of both worlds.
Yet some companies continue to mandate a return to full-on office work, including in South Africa, where nearly half of all workers have elected to work away from the office at least once a week. So can we ever go back to how things were before the pandemic upended our working and personal lives?
Hybrid working can help bridge the gap between working in the office and at home to meet the needs of all your employees. According to CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for HR and People development), the number of employers reporting an increase in productivity since adopting a hybrid working model has risen from 33% in December 2020 to 41% in November 2021.
Over the past two years, COVID-19 has affected the return-to-office plan for many organizations. What was expected to be a mass migration back to the office in September of 2021 quickly halted as employers extended their work-from-home policies indefinitely. Employees and employers are again preparing for their new office environment.
For many employees, returning to the office means some semblance of normalcy or a workplace more like the one we remember before the pandemic.
But one thing is clear: We’re not returning to the same workplace we left. And employees with the ability to work remotely are essentially anticipating a hybrid office environment as we advance, allowing them to spend part of their week working remotely and in the office.
Before the pandemic, very few remote-capable employees worked exclusively from home (8%), while about one-third had a hybrid work arrangement. Then the pandemic hit, and the vast majority of remote-capable employees were forced to work from home in some capacity. As many as 70% worked exclusively from home in May 2020.
Fast forward to February 2022. Most remote-capable employees continued to work from home at least part of the time, but the mix became a nearly even split – 42% had a hybrid schedule, and 39% worked entirely from home.
Given the unprecedented number of employees now working hybrid or fully remote, the future of the office is at a turning point. What remote work options are employers planning? What do employees want?
When asked where they plan to work long term – according to the plans their employer communicated, remote-capable employees confirmed that a hybrid work schedule would be the predominant office arrangement in the future. About 53% expect a hybrid arrangement, and 24% expect to work exclusively remotely.
